disconnection
by bizarro4
Summary: final chapter up! Chad loves Cree, that's always been true. Cree loves Maurice...or does she? Maurice loves Abby. Who does Abby love? love squares are fun! this story branches from canon after Op: MAURICE.
1. introduction

author's notes: it's been a long time since i've uploaded anything, i wonder if anyone here remembers me anymore? anyways, yep, it's me, the original Cree/Chad fan. this fic is completely unrelated to my other fics, since it follows the show a little more closely. in fact, you probably need to have seen Operation: MAURICE in order for this to make any sense, as Maurice will be an important character in this fic.

just to warn you, there's going to be some point-of-view jumping in this fic. i generally separate sections of POVs with breaks, like this: --- so don't be thrown off if you suddenly seem to be in someone else's head. i also will sometimes go over the same scene from a different character's point of view, so if you think "didn't that already happen?" chances are it did, but this time we're seeing it from another character's point of view.

disclaimer: Codename: Kids Next Door belongs to Mr. Warburton and Cartoon Network 

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---

Grasping Maurice's hand firmly, Cree dragged him to the pizza joint. Maurice was feeling rather uncomfortable; would he be able to pull this off? Would everyone look at him and realize instantly that he was a kid in teen's clothing?

"Have you ever been here before?" she asked him as he peered uncertainly through the front window.

"Kinda. I've carried out before, but I've never eaten here. The teens would always chase me out."

"Well, don't worry about that anymore, you're one of us now!" Cree beamed at him and pulled him inside.

They stepped into the pizza place. It was small, warm, and crowded. Maurice scanned the room apprehensively. Other than the workers, there was no one over the age of twenty, nor under the age of thirteen present. He hoped that he wasn't as conspicuous as he felt.

"Oh, good, he's already here," he heard Cree say. She was still holding his hand. _Why wouldn't she let go?_

Maurice saw Cree wave to someone at the back of the pizzeria. The person looked up, seeing Cree, then immediately noticed him. Their eyes met.

"Numbuh 274," Maurice uttered in a low voice.

Cree turned to look at him. "Right, so you recognize him? Just don't call him that to his face. It's Chad, now."

Chad was glaring at him with thinly veiled hatred. Maurice's heart jumped in panic—why was he looking at him like that? Could Numbuh 274 know that he was a spy? Chad's tactical skills were well known, as well as his high-level hacking abilities. But the KND Covert Teen program was extra-super secret; he couldn't possibly be privy to this knowledge?

---

Chad sat in the busy pizzeria, staring at the plastic red-and-white-checkered tablecloth. Every once in a while he would glance at the window, but seeing no one, he would return his attention to the space directly in front of him so he wouldn't have to make eye contact with the other teens surrounding him.

"Are you ready to order?"

"I'm waiting for someone," Chad muttered, fingering the puddle of condensation forming around his glass of ice water. The waitress walked away.

Cree had asked him to meet her there. It wasn't an unusual thing, really, but she said she wanted him to meet someone. A new recruit, a former KND operative like themselves. Ever since he turned thirteen, Chad hated meeting new people.

He heard the squeak of the door as it opened, muted by the sound of the crowd. Looking up, he saw her, and the beginnings of a smile played on his lips. He couldn't help it, seeing Cree instinctively made him smile.

But she was with someone, the former operative who would be joining their team. He had foolishly hoped that it would her sister, Abigail. He knew that Cree longed to work alongside her again. He had hoped that the discernable joy in her voice when she told him was due to the impending reunion.

Not so, apparently. The person with her was a boy—dark skinned, dreadlocked hair. And attractive, dammit. And she was _holding his hand_.

Chad scowled at him. Unless Cree's first words were, "This is my long-lost brother," he was definitely going to hate this guy.

"Chad, this is Maurice, the new recruit."

Chad did _not_ like the way she smiled and looked at the new guy when she said his name.

"Uh…hi." Maurice hesitated, and then held out his hand.

Chad stared at the proffered hand coldly. Rejecting it, he fixed his eyes on the other's face again. "So what's the news from Moonbase?"

He watched coolly as the new guy stammered non-sentences. Then gaped in horror as Cree gently placed a hand on Maurice's chest to mollify him, murmuring words of comfort.

At Chad, she stared daggers. She roughly pulled him several steps away, leaving Maurice just out of earshot. "You could at least try to be a little friendly."

"I'm just trying to see if he knows any of the current KND plans," Chad grumbled defensively.

"He…doesn't," Cree hedged in reply. "He's been decommissioned."

"What? Then he's useless!"

"No, he's not. He was one of the best operatives when—"

"_Was._ Now he's just a regular dumb teen!"

"He's a member of the team now, so you're going to have to deal with it."

Chad glared at Maurice, who was looking around the room nervously. "I don't trust him."

"You just met him." Gazing at Maurice, her expression changed, as did her tone. "Come on, you'll like him once you get to know him."

'_That,'_ thought Chad, '_is a long shot.'_

_---  
---  
_

author's notes: this is just a prologue, there's more to come.  
and yep, Maurice made a major faux pas in the beginning, calling Chad "Numbuh 274" in front of Cree (he was supposedly decommissioned and shouldn't remember anything about the Kids Next Door) but luckily for him, Cree didn't catch on.


	2. kiss

Cree snuggled beside Maurice in a booth at the Romantic Burger. True, the place brought back unpleasant memories of "Hank," but it was the best place in town for a romantic date. Plus they had really good burgers.

Cree's cell phone rang. She answered it after a brief apology to Maurice.

"Talk to me. Oh, it's you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So what's in it for me? Hm. I'll have to get back to you on that one."

She turned off her phone. "That was Father," she informed.

Maurice's eyes widened in horror before he realized that he wasn't supposed to remember who Father was. He hoped Cree didn't notice.

"Father…?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Oh, that's right, you don't--. Father is a guy who wants the Kids Next Door destroyed almost as much as we do," she explained with a smile. "We used to work together more closely, but, well, Father likes bossing people around, and that gets old fast. The Teens and Father have had something of a falling out, so while we might work together sometimes, it's on strictly case-by-case terms."

"Oh, good," answered Maurice, feeling rather relieved that he wouldn't be working with Father regularly. Then realizing that his response was a rather odd one, added, "I don't like taking orders."

"Exactly," Cree agreed. "Of course, you'll be taking orders from me," she grinned slyly.

"Right."

"And I'm thinking I haven't been taking advantage of the situation," she continued playfully, moving closer to Maurice.

"Is that the time?" Maurice blurted. "I'm sorry, honey, but I gotta go. I've got…judo lessons. I'll call you." He got up and made a hasty retreat.

"But your food hasn't even arrived—" Cree called after him.

A waiter came up and looked at her questioningly.

"I'm sorry, but can I make my order to go?" she sighed.

"Of course, Miss, I'll tell the kitchen now."

Cree frowned. She didn't like the way the waiter had looked at her—full of pity. _It's not as if Maurice ditched me, he had a judo lesson, is all. _She wondered how long he had been taking judo lessons, and why she wasn't aware of them before.

She propped her head up in her hands, elbows on the table. _Strange…I've been wanting to be with Maurice all these years, and now that I finally am, I still feel…alone._ She tried to drive those thoughts from her mind. She was just over-thinking things. Maurice was her first serious boyfriend, of course their relationship wasn't going to be exactly the way she imagined it would be. Even so…whenever she tried to spend time alone with him, he seemed to suddenly remember something and run off. They hadn't even kissed yet….

She was still lost in her thoughts when the waiter returned with a bag.

"I've included a piece of our delicious chocolate cake, no charge," he smiled sympathetically at her.

"Oh, that's sweet of you, but you didn't have to—"

"A beautiful young lady such as yourself deserves a boy who appreciates her." He gave her another infuriatingly supportive look and turned to leave.

"Maurice appreciates me," she called after him. "I don't need cake! Ugh…." She took her doggy bag and plodded out.

---

Numbuh Five lounged in her room in Sector V's Treehouse. She glanced at her watch. She should leave for home soon.

"Numbuh Five," she heard a low voice from the window. "Hey, over here,"

She turned and stared. "Maurice?" she asked in a hushed voice. "You shouldn't be here! Even if you are covert KND, you're still a teen, and if the Teen Alert signal goes off, the rest of my team will be here to kick your butt."

"It's okay, I made a signal jammer." He climbed into the window and held up a small device. "As long as it's on, the security grid won't be able to detect me."

Numbuh Five walked up to him and stared at the small module in wonder. "Did you make that yourself? Pretty impressive. But you'd better make sure Cree or any of the teens don't get a hold of that thing."

"Right, I won't. Listen, Numbuh Five. Abby."

She looked up at him, surprised. He never called her Abby.

"I was hoping you could, uh, do me a favor." He nervously fiddled with the device in his hands.

"What favor?" she questioned.

"Well, you know that my latest assignment requires that I pose as Numbuh Ele—I mean, Cree's boyfriend."

"Yeah," she said aloud, mentally adding, _of course I do, you idiot._

"It's not an easy job. I've got to gain her trust, and pretend that I like her."

Numbuh Five watched him, poker-faced. She wasn't about to reveal how she felt about the situation.

"I must be doing pretty well, because Cree doesn't seem to know. And she…seems to like me…and…well, lately, she keeps trying to kiss me."

"This is all very fascinating, Maurice, but I don't see—"

"The problem is," Maurice continued with growing difficulty, "that I've never kissed anyone before. And I don't want my first kiss to be a fake one with someone I don't even like."

Abby stared. _Is he asking what I think he's asking?_

Maurice gazed at her steadily. "So I was hoping…that my first kiss…could be with you?"

She saw it coming, but she still wasn't prepared for it. "I…." She felt her cheeks grow hot and prayed that her entire face hadn't turned bright red. "I don't…. Okay."

He seemed almost surprised at her answer. Then he smiled uncertainly. "Thanks."

Abby nodded. "So…now?"

"I guess." He continued to turn the signal jammer in his hands.

Numbuh Five suddenly became very self-conscious about how she looked. She took off her hat and pushed some loose strands of hair from her face.

Maurice took a hesitant step towards her then another. He paused and almost asked, "Are you ready," but realized it was a ridiculous question. He leaned forward, wondering if he should go fast to get the whole damn thing over with, but realized it would hardly be a real kiss if he did so. He inched closer to her, half-closing his eyes, fervently hoping that he didn't look like he was grimacing.

Abby's eyes remained wide open, watching him apprehensively as he approached. It seemed to take an eternity for him to reach her and she wished he would move faster. She would have bent forward to meet him halfway, but she felt frozen stiff. Even her lungs refused to take in air.

Finally he pressed his lips to hers. His eyes were closed. Abby kept hers open, staring. It almost felt like an out-of body experience, as if her soul had floated out of her and was hovering above them, wondering, _now how did this happen?_ It wasn't romantic at all. It was one of those "soccer kisses" she had heard about, no hands, no touching at all except for the lips which were pressed firmly together.

It probably lasted only a few seconds, but it seemed to drag on for an eternity. She didn't understand. She liked Maurice. She _liked_ him. Why was this such a miserable experience?

At last he pulled away and Abby exhaled, relieved.

Maurice's face was flushed and he had trouble meeting her eyes. He then realized that he had been clutching onto the jammer device the entire time. It really hadn't gone exactly as he had hoped, but it was a first kiss, after all. More importantly, it was a first kiss with Abby.

"Thanks." He tried to smile in an easy-going manner in spite of his red cheeks.

Abby noticed him peering at her and plastered a smile on herself. "Yeah, well…no problem," she half-shrugged.

"I guess I'll see you around." Maurice headed for the window by which he entered.

"Couldn't avoid you if I wanted to," Numbuh Five replied in a voice low enough that he couldn't be sure what she said.

A final wave and Maurice was gone.

Abby sighed and sat on the couch. Her first kiss. With Maurice. And it was completely lame. After a few moments of wallowing in self-pity, she stood to go home.

---

Abby entered the kitchen to find Cree sitting at the table, dejectedly eating chocolate cake out of a carryout container. The older sister looked up when she entered.

"I'm not depressed!" she protested defensively, mouth full.

"Well good for you." Abby answered as she dropped herself heavily in the chair beside Cree. "I am—so I need this cake more than you." She snatched the fork from her sister's hands and helped herself to a large bite.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No," Abby said between mouthfuls.

"Neither do I." Cree grabbed another fork.

---  
--- 

author's note: Cree is depressed because Maurice won't kiss her, and Abby is depressed because he did. ah, what a tangled web... :P  
a mysteriously Chad-less chapter. that probably won't happen very often.


	3. friends, part 1

"Chad, are you listening to me?" Cree demanded.

He stared dully past her at the cheerfully wallpapered walls of her kitchen, head propped up in his hands. "Comic book store. Yipper cards. Sabotage," he listed in a monotone.

She frowned at him. "And your role?"

"Stand guard outside while you and Boy Wonder do whatever the hell it is you're going to do."

Maurice glared at him from across the table. After a couple half-hearted attempts to be friendly with Chad, he decided to let their relationship settle into mutual hatred. It didn't matter what that traitor thought of him as long as Cree trusted him. He caught her eye and she smiled at him. He smiled back coolly. At first lying to her was awkward, but it was getting easier and easier.

Chad saw their sappy glances and made a small noise of disgust. He stood abruptly and muttered, "So are we going now or what?"

Cree turned to focus on him and her expression quickly changed to business as usual. "Right. Okay, everybody, let's synchronize our watches. 0100 hours. Let's move—"

"Hold on a sec," Chad interrupted.

"What is it now?" Cree asked impatiently.

"Where's Maurice's BRA?"

Maurice froze. '_Crud. I'm gonna have to wear a BRA?' _he worried to himself.

"He doesn't need one," Cree answered simply.

Maurice exhaled in relief while Chad questioned, "Why the hell not!"

"His role in this mission doesn't require Battle Ready Armor. Yours does. So suit up, Chaderella."

Chad's face reddened furiously as Maurice silently taunted him behind Cree's back.

"Okay, are we done with the delays? Let's—"

"Wait." This time it was Maurice.

"What is it, honey?"

Chad seethed quietly.

"I need to—call my parents. It won't take a second." He left the room quickly.

Chad stared at Cree as she looked over the comic book store blueprints one last time before folding them and tucking them away in her armor.

"He always runs off to make a phone call or something right before a mission," Chad stated.

"And your point is?"

"Don't you find it suspicious?"

"You're too paranoid, Chad."

"No I'm not, it's your brain that's turned to mush ever since you started dating him."

She glowered at him for a moment, but the expression faded into a smug one. "You're just jealous."

"Jealous of that loser? Yeah, right," he muttered, avoiding her eyes.

"You're jealous that we—"

"All right, guys, I'm ready to go," Maurice interrupted as he reentered the room.

Chad exited brusquely, making sure to shove his rival teammate out of his way as he did so.

"Jerk," Maurice mumbled. He looked at Cree. "What's his problem?"

"Don't mind him, he's got issues," Cree shrugged, and walked over to her boyfriend to rub his arm comfortingly. "If he weren't so good at hacking into mainframes I would have ditched him ages ago." Cree paused, reflecting. Chad's temper was getting noticeably worse lately. Ever since his thirteenth birthday she saw the way he pushed people away and acted like an all-around ass. But as they spent more time together on missions she got to know him better, and saw that underneath all the bitterness he wasn't such a bad guy. He had even started opening up to her more, talking to her. While he remained terse with almost everybody else, she and Chad were becoming friends. But now it was like they were back at square one. He stopped talking to her altogether, unless to insult Maurice or say something disparaging, even hurtful. She knew he hated interacting with others, but she didn't think he would take the addition of Maurice to the team this badly.

Cree sighed, pushing these contemplations from her mind. "He's really not that bad once you get to know him, just give him some time. I guess he's really not a people person."

She saw the way Maurice looked at her doubtfully. She didn't blame him, the way Chad had been acting these days.

---

Chad slammed his locker door shut with the finality of the last slam of the day.

"Chad, we need to talk."

He tensed for a second before turning to face Cree.

"What about?" He didn't mean to sound as defensive as he did.

"About the way you've been acting lately."

He frowned, and shouldering his backpack, started down the empty hallway.

Cree kept pace with him. "This isn't easy for me to talk about either, you know."

"Then let's not."

"I don't under—" Cree paused and began again. "It's gotten worse lately. Ever since Maurice joined the team you've been acting like a jerk."

Chad pushed through the exit doors and continued outside, walking rapidly, just short of breaking into a run. Still Cree continued, walking beside him.

"Maurice is part of our team now. You're going to have to accept that."

The two of them walk-ran through the school grounds in silence, Cree looking at Chad, waiting for a response. When they finally reached the street and had to pause for traffic, he spoke, glaring at the walk signal ahead of them.

"Fine. I accept it. That doesn't mean I have to like him."

"Why don't you like him? He's a good person, and he's trying to be friends with you. But he's giving up, the way you've been acting."

"Good." The signal changed and he recommenced his brisk walk.

"I don't know why you hate everyone so much. You could stand to have a few friends."

"I have friends."

"Name one," Cree challenged.

"Kenny," he named the first person he could possibly call a friend.

"Who?"

"You don't know him."

"Is he in one of your classes? What does he look like?"

"You don't know him," Chad repeated.

"Well, I want to meet him. We should all hang out together sometime."

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"He moved to Hawaii."

Cree sighed. "Do you have any friends on the continent?"

He remained silent. His pace slowed then he finally stopped.

"It's a lie anyways," he stated quietly.

"What is?"

"Kenny and I aren't friends anymore." Chad stared at the pavement at his feet. "He got decommissioned…it was my fault. Back when we were in Sector Q…." He trailed off, silently brooding.

Cree watched him intently, waiting for him to continue. "What happened?" she coaxed.

But her words had the opposite of her desired effect. He looked up at her, almost startled, and she could see him shutting her out again.

"Never mind." He strode forward again.

She caught up with him. "Chad—tell me, it'll be good to talk about it."

"It's nothing. Forget it."

"Why do you never talk to me anymore? I thought we were friends."

He scoffed at the word, and Cree clenched her fists in frustration. "Why do you do that?" she demanded. "You keep pushing people away and then you blame them for keeping their distance."

He turned on her. "Thank you for the psychoanalysis, doctor. Are you done now?" His voice rang with contempt. He stalked away.

Cree stood and watched him go, stunned. That look in his eyes—it was definitely hatred. _Chad hates me._ She shivered and rubbed her arms. Why did she feel like crying?

---  
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author's notes: finally, some Cree/Chadness! well, something like it, anyways. i've noticed that so far the chapters have been almost like one-shots, with not much of a story thread linking them other than having the same characters. the next chapter will be a continuation of this one (already working on it) but it seems like a lot of them will kind of be separate stories until i get closer to the end.


	4. friends, part 2

author's notes: i realize that i left some loose ends in my last fic—namely, whatever happened on that Yipper Card sabotage mission the teens were on. well, we all know that it was a bust, right? what with Maurice's mysterious disappearance right before they set off, etc. another thing that went unexplained is the mention of Kenny, who, if you've read my other fics, you will recognize as Numbuh Thirty C. he has a tendency to pop up uninvited in my fics lately, if only in mention. i keep making reference to Chad's betrayal of Kenny, though i have yet to write it. heh, maybe someday.

i should probably also mention the rating upgrade (er...downgrade?) from K+ to T. basically it's for the cussin'. :P

anyways, on with the chapter, like i said, it's a continuation of the last one, rather than a separate but loosely connected story. if that made any sense.

---  
--- 

"_It doesn't matter what Chad thinks of me—why should I care if he hates me?"_ Cree thought furiously. But she could feel her eyes welling up again. She rubbed them angrily.

She jolted in surprise when she heard a knock at the door. She turned to see Maurice wave at her through the window of the kitchen door.

"Hey, Boo," she said as she let him in.

"Hey," he returned the greeting. He looked at her, noticing her red eyes and troubled demeanor. He immediately pretended that he hadn't. "So what's up?"

"Nothing much," she replied, deciding that if she acted as if nothing was wrong, she might actually feel that way.

"So no big missions or anything? Good." He dropped down on a chair at the table.

Cree attempted to insert feeling into her voice as she said, "yeah, as much as I hate those KNDorks, fighting them can be a drag sometimes," but her words came out sounding rather flat. She walked over to Maurice and hooked her arms around him from behind. It was a comfort having someone to hold close. Chad didn't have that. Maybe if he did, he wouldn't be so angry all the time. If only he would open up more….

She heard a sound coming from the door, and she suddenly realized that she forgot to close it after she let Maurice in. She turned her head. Chad stood in the doorway, gazing at the two of them.

"Chad," she stated in surprise, straightening and releasing Maurice. She tried to read his expression. It wasn't hatred, but it certainly wasn't happy.

Maurice also turned to regard him.

Chad's brows furrowed, his eyes narrowed, and his jaw set. If his expression wasn't hatred before, it was pretty damn close now. He turned and left without saying a word.

Cree sighed. "I give up."

"Give up what?" queried her boyfriend.

"I don't know. I just give up."

---

Chad sat in the noisy, crowded cafeteria, taking unenthusiastic bites out of his sandwich. He stared at a notebook in front of him, playing the part of diligent student. In truth, he wasn't studying at all, he was merely pretending to be focused on his notes so no one would bother trying to talk to him.

Someone slid in next to him on the bench. Without turning his head, without even a furtive glance towards her, he knew it was Cree. Why was she here? He turned the page of the notebook and put on an intently focused expression.

"Chad," she said softly, almost inaudibly in the raucous cafeteria. If his ears weren't tuned in to the frequency of her voice he might not have heard her.

He refused to look at her. "Do you mind? I'm studying."

There was a pause, and he wondered if she would leave. But then she countered, "You can't fool me," and yanked the notebook from him.

Finally he turned his head to meet her eyes with a mirthless countenance.

Cree continued to goad him. "C'mon, prove it, say the last thing you read on this page."

Chad sighed loudly then recited, "King Lear begins his journey as a man who is 'blind' because he cannot see beyond the fake and flattering comments that—"

She stared at the notes, stunned. "Lucky guess."

He snatched his notes back. "Thank you," he said icily, recommencing his feigned studying.

Another pause. The cafeteria din was deafening.

"I didn't mean to pry into your life," she suddenly stated outright, as if they had been discussing the matter all along. "I know you're a very private person. I guess I pushed too hard. I'm sorry." He could see her bending forward, trying to meet his eyes as he stared at the lined paper before him. "But if you would only—" the words spilled out of her mouth before she stopped herself and took a deep breath. "I want you to know that I'll be here if you ever want to talk, but until then, I'll let you have your space."

Chad slowly turned to her and studied her face. It was certainly serious, but was she sorry or was that sorrow? His own expression was almost neutral. If anything, it was tired, defeated. _How can she know me so well, and still not know me at all?_

"Don't apologize," he finally said. "You didn't do anything wrong. I've just been...lately, I've..." He had no idea how to finish that sentence. "I'll try to be less of an asshole."

Cree's smile widened into a grin as she said, "Good luck with that."

He chuckled a little weakly.

---  
---

author's notes: kind of a short one this time, hopefully i'll write more next chapter.


	5. stolen

_She's getting that look in her eyes again…. _

Maurice focused on the television in front of him and acted as if he hadn't noticed. It didn't really matter what he did, anyway. Nothing short of bolting from the room or insulting her mom would stop what was coming next.

Cree scooted closer to him on the couch and pressed herself against him, smiling lazily at him with lowered eyelids. He grinned back at her; it was only a little forced. He did not turn his head to face her. Undeterred, Cree entwined her arms around him and kissed his neck. Maurice allowed this while counting in his head how long the two of them had been "dating". Three months, was it? It felt longer. Was this normal behavior for people who had been dating three months?

His eyes remained on the television as he pondered all this. It was only when Cree began moving north that he said, (as idly as possible), "Isn't your dad coming home soon?"

"Not for hours." He felt her breath against his jaw line.

Maurice frowned barely perceptively. "There's a water main break downtown," he reported the latest news that had just flashed across the screen.

"That's too bad." She had pulled her right arm from around him; her hand was snaking up his chest, up to his left cheek. She turned his head towards her. "Stop watching T.V.," she murmured, aiming her lips for his.

"Didn't Chad say he was going to drop by?"

Cree paused, eyes no longer at half-mast. "Did he?" she queried.

"Something like that," Maurice mumbled noncommittally.

"What time?"

"I don't know. Around now-ish, I guess."

Cree seemed to consider a moment then gave him a quick smooch on the lips before pulling away. She stood and walked towards the kitchen, saying, "I'm going to make some hot chocolate. You want any?"

"No, thanks." Maurice was settling back on the couch. _That wasn't so bad._ He picked up the remote and began channel surfing.

Soon he heard the front door open and close and he turned to look in its direction. Abby was heading for the stairs when she spotted Maurice and halted.

"Hi, Numbuh Five."

"Is that Chad?" Cree called from the kitchen.

"No," Abby hollered in reply.

The kitchen door opened a crack and they saw Cree peek out at them then retract back into the kitchen.

The other two watched the door for a moment in case it opened again, and when it didn't, Maurice turned to Numbuh Five.

"Still fighting the good fight?" he asked in a low voice.

"We put Toiletnator away. Again. We keep putting him in jail, but he keeps breaking out."

"Tell me about it. Could be because no one wants him around, not even behind bars."

"I don't know. Maybe if the prison cells were made of something stronger than ice…." she pondered aloud.

"Hey—don't knock the old ways," Maurice warned jokingly.

Abby frowned, studying him. "That lip gloss looks good on you."

He wiped his lips, chuckling embarrassedly. "Crud, I'm wearing lip gloss?"

"Well…I meant on your neck…but yeah, there, too."

Maurice stopped laughing as he continued to wipe away the makeup. "I don't do it because I like to, you know," he stated in a low voice.

"I know," she replied, equally quietly.

"It's just something I have to do, like doing the dishes or mowing the lawn, or…. It's even more important than that, you know? Because if I don't do my chores, the worst that'll happen is I get grounded, but if I don't do this—"

"You don't have to explain it to me."

Maurice scrutinized her, but she avoided his eyes. _Why do I only doubt myself when I'm with her?_

She looked towards the staircase. "I should—"

"I keep wondering," Maurice interrupted, "when I'm with her, I keep wondering how it would feel if I were with y—"

"Don't," Abby stopped him. She turned to face him. She looked upset. "Just _don't_."

---

Cree idly stirred milk in a small saucepan over the stove. She put the spoon to her lips—it was still only lukewarm. She sighed impatiently and turned up the heat, stirring more violently, glaring in annoyance at the tepid milk.

"You got it in for that milk or something?"

Cree jumped and turned in the direction of the open window. Chad tilted his head at her.

"There you are," Cree said as she let him in.

Chad furrowed his brow in confusion over this, looked at the floor directly at his feet, then in the immediate vicinity. "Uh, I guess so."

"Maurice said you'd be—"

"Your milk's boiling over."

Cree whipped around to see frothy milk spilling over the edges of the small pot. Cursing loudly, she ran over and turned off the stove. "Ugh, what a mess…." She surveyed what was left of the milk. "Um…do you want any hot cocoa?"

"In this weather?"

"Yeah, I don't know, I was sitting with Maurice and I suddenly wanted some. It's a little chilly in here, don't you think?" she justified, pouring the milk into a mug and adding chocolate syrup. "Look—just enough!" She proudly displayed an almost-full cup.

Chad watched as she snapped the syrup bottle shut, wiping off excess chocolate off in the process, and licked her fingers. It was only after she turned to clean the spilled milk on the stove that he shook his head clear. "So Maurice is here, then?" he inquired unenthusiastically.

"Yeah, he's in the living room with—is Abby still in there?" she suddenly wondered. She pushed through the kitchen door and shouted, "Stop trying to steal my boyfriend!"

More yelling ensued as Abby loudly denied the accusation. Several thunderous moments later, the kitchen door opened again, but this time the younger Lincoln sister entered, muttering under her breath.

She looked up and both she and Chad froze. They were enemies, after all. But Chad took half a step back, showing that he had no interest in fighting her right now. Numbuh Five regarded him warily, but also made no move to attack. She did, however, notice the hot chocolate on the table.

Abby considered for a moment, and then filched Cree's mug of cocoa.

Chad watched her leave with it, secretly wishing she had stolen her sister's boyfriend rather than her hot chocolate.

---  
--- 

author's notes: heh, something about self-pimping Maurice amuses me. anyways, while this fic will be a rather slow-paced one in general, i do promise more action in the next chapter. provided all goes well with it, that is.

i also want to thank everyone who has reviewed my fic, it's really appreciated!


	6. fault

"Where the hell is he?" Chad kicked impatiently at the pavement at his feet.

"Would you calm down? He'll be here any minute now," Cree snapped, standing against the brick wall of the Rainbow Monkey Corporation Manufacturing Plant. While she tried to sound confident, she glanced at her watch. Maurice was already fifteen minutes late. It wasn't like him.

"Why don't we just go in there and get this over with? Two people can handle this job."

"We're sticking to the plan," she said. She sat down on a small ledge and raised her feet, now slightly sore from standing around and waiting. She ignored Chad as he paced back and forth until he started whistling the Rainbow Monkey theme song.

"Would you quit that?"

"What? No love for the Rainbow Monkeys?" he answered glibly. "But they're 'oh so very round and super-chunky.'"

"Just keep quiet. There are probably security guards around here—"

As if to illustrate her point, they suddenly heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and again the tune of the Rainbow Monkey theme song being whistled. Cree turned to glare at Chad, who shook his head and mouthed, _"Not me!"_

A flashlight beam appeared from around the corner of the building. Cree violently shoved Chad into a clump of nearby bushes, where he landed on his back with a somewhat painful-sounding thud, then jumped in directly after, flattening him.

"Oof!" he grunted.

"Shush!"

The footsteps continued to approach and the whistling grew louder. Cree squinted behind her at the advancing light. She could just barely make out the shape of the ugly, purple security guard uniform. He was headed their way and must have heard them, because he seemed to be searching around for something. Meanwhile Chad was squirming underneath her.

"Keep still," she hissed.

His only reply was a small, sort of squeak.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that heavy." She glared at him, and he stared back with an expression that she identified as pain or panic.

A circle of light suddenly fell on them. "Well, well, well, what have we here?" asked an odd, low voice.

The two teens focused on its source, now both of them wearing flustered countenances. But the voice's owner then laughed a very familiar laugh. "You two sure look cozy," he said, no longer disguising his voice, and turned the light on himself.

"Maurice!" Cree exclaimed, and rose immediately to give him a hug. "Where have you been? You're late!"

"Sorry, Cree, but I had to get some new threads." He grinned, displaying his security uniform.

"Where did you get that?"

"I have my sources."

"That's great, honey, we should have no problem on this mission now. Okay, are we ready then? Maurice, you and I will go inside and upload the virus, while Chad-- What are you still doing down there?"

Chad gaped at the other two rather vacantly from his position on the ground. "Huh? Uh…nothing."

"Well, get off your butt and get into position."

---

Chad stared into the inky night sky and sighed. He felt like an idiot. _I am an idiot, I suppose,_ he mused to himself. _I completely spazzed out when Cree…._ He broke his own train of thought with a mirthless laugh. He really shouldn't think about it. It wasn't as if it were a missed opportunity. Even if he had collected his wits enough to put his arms around her, he'd certainly have nothing to show for it other than bruises. Still, he couldn't help wondering how things might have turned out differently. He gazed up again at the sky, playing the scene over in his head. He had had the wind knocked out of him, but once he caught his breath again, he _liked _the feeling of the weight of her body against his. A wistful smile formed on his lips as he remembered the feeling, and he found himself wishing that he could spend the rest of his life with her….

He was jolted from his waking dreams by the sound of a muffled explosion. _What was that? _It came from inside the Plant. Chad then realized that he hadn't been doing his job at all, the entire Global Kids Next Door Organization could have marched right past him and he wouldn't have even noticed.

An alarm started to blare. Chad froze. _What should I do?_ After a moment of hesitation, he charged in.

Inside it was dark and smoky. Chad covered his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and stared around. _Damn, if only I had paid more attention to the blueprints,_ he thought to himself.

He caught a glimpse of some movement to his left and armored up, pointing his wrist laser gun in the direction of the activity. A figure staggered towards him and the exit.

"Maurice!" Chad shouted, identifying him. His armor retracted as he stared down the hallway from which his rival teammate emerged. "Where's Cree?"

"We got separated." He coughed. "It was the Kids Next Door, they ambushed us."

Chad didn't care for explanations. _"Where's Cree!"_ he demanded again.

"I don't—" Chad raced off before he finished, "—know."

Chad plunged into the hall from which Maurice had emerged. As he ran through the hallways it grew even darker and more choked with smoke. But the turns he was making were starting to seem familiar from the cursory glance he had taken of the plans.

Finally he raced into the mainframe's storage facility where they had planned to upload the virus. The room was stifling—hot and even more smoky. He could hear the roar of active fires, he could feel their intense heat, but he couldn't see anything through the clouds of soot. Chad coughed and tried to pull air into his lungs, but only inhaled noxious fumes.

"Cree!" he called with difficulty. "Cree—where are you?"

---

The night air felt sweet and cool. Maurice drank it in, one giant breath after another. He then turned and looked at the building he had just evacuated. There was no indication of the inferno raging inside, but he knew only too well of the dangers within its walls.

"Stupid Numbuh Thirteen," he muttered. Of all the sectors that had to answerhis call, it had to be Sector N. It was supposed to be a simple mission—he and Cree would go in, try to upload the virus, and the Kids Next Door would charge in and stop them just in time, and it would be over. It had worked perfectly every time before, but this time he hadn't taken the Human Disaster into account. How he managed to turn the place into a firestorm in under two minutes, Maurice had no idea.

He had seen Sector N escape, but he lost track of Cree. She probably made it out by herself, she was more than competent enough. He fortunately had the plans of the building with him, and knew exactly how to get out.

Maurice stared at the corporation again. He was starting to see smoke leaking from various vents. Fire alarms were blaring, the fire department would be here soon. He should probably run, or else they might find his presence suspicious. Maybe Cree got out before him and decided to do just that.

But no. Even though he knew she was his enemy, he knew she wouldn't have abandoned him.

He only gave a passing thought to Chad, who dashed in there like an idiot. What did he think, that he was going to save the day? It would serve him right if the fire department found him in there and threw his sorry ass in jail.

But Cree. All this time he had been playing the part of her boyfriend, pretending to like her, but she seemed to truly care about him. And she was still in there now. If anything happened to her, it would be all his fault.

---  
---

author's notes: sorry for taking longer than usual to update, i'm going to have less and less time to write now that summer is almost over. but i'll try to update as often as possible.  
those of you who have seen the episode MACARRONI (sic) know who Numbuh 13 is, but if you haven't, just keep in mind that he's awalking bad luck charm. if you're in a plane with him, it'll crash, and it'll be his fault. how he managed to become a KND operative, i have no idea.  
and needless to say (but i'm saying it anyways!) the next chapter will be a direct continuation.


	7. fire

Chad gagged on the omnipresent smoke. "Cree…" he said doggedly, but his voice wasn't more than a croak by then. He was unable to find Cree in the mainframe's housing unit, so he continued to stagger around the corporation, eyes watering and blinded by smoke, barely even able to think straight from the fumes. Only one thing was clear—he had to find Cree.

He stumbled through the dark, smoky hallways, pausing every now and then in an attempt to catch his breath. Finally he heard a voice, muffled by the sound of the conflagration. He stopped. Could he trust his ears?

He pulled in a suffocating lungful of smoke and shouted, _"CREE!"_ as loudly as he could manage.

The voice repeated. He was certain now that it was Cree, and not his oxygen-deprived brain playing tricks on him.

"Cree! Where are you?" he hollered, punctuated with rasping coughs. He stepped tentatively in the direction he thought the sound was coming from.

At last he saw a figure emerge from the black fog, and his terror eased just slightly. Cree was all right. For now, at least.

"Chad?" she said, surprised, though muffled from her helmet and facemask. "What are you--? Chad, I can't find Maurice, I've looked everywhere." She stared at him with anxiety in her eyes.

"He's okay, he's outside. We have to get out of here."

"He's out…? Oh, good."

Chad was too focused on trying to remember the way out to try to read her expression.

"Here, it's this way." He held out his hand to her and she took it.

Chad was too busy trying not to pass out from smoke inhalation to realize this was the first time they held hands.

They hastened back the way Chad had come.

"Are you sure this is the way?"

"Yeah, it's not much further," he lied.

"Where's your helmet?"

He frowned at the seemingly pointless question, wondering if it were worth the expenditure of oxygen to reply. "I left it at home." Those things were useless anyways. Battle Ready Armor could barely stand up against a pillow fight, much less a raging inferno.

Cree released his hand and he stopped to look at her. She was removing her facemask.

"What are you--?" he began when she pressed it to his face and fastened it. His question was answered immediately when he took a breath and found the air noticeably cleaner than simply breathing through a shirt. He gratefully drew in large draughts of air.

"It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing." She coughed.

Chad was then stunned by his own selfishness. "I can't take this," he said, beginning to remove the mask.

"Don't. We'll take it in turns. Let's not waste any more time discussing it and get out of here. That's an order."

He nodded. "Thank you."

They took each other's hands again and pressed forward.

Soon they were back in the expansive mainframe's chamber. It was even smokier than when Chad first came through. He cast a worried glance towards Cree, who was coughing into her sleeve. The path to the other side of the room was now blocked by fallen debris and they had to wend their way around not only charred furniture and collapsed support beams, but live flames that seemed to jump out at them as if they had a will of their own.

Chad stopped short when they reached a pile of shattered concrete that stretched to the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" Cree shouted over the noise of roaring flames and falling building.

"This…is the way out."

They both stared at the obstacle for a second before Chad dived forward and began digging into the concrete.

"Idiot!" Cree yelled, pulling him back. "Armor up first." She began to pull at large chunks of debris with her protected hands.

Chad frowned at the broken skin of his hands. It seemed so insignificant compared to the prospect of imminent death, but he obeyed. Together they broke through the barrier until they were forcibly blown back by the intensity of heat from the other side.

Chad peered into the hole they had made. Through it was nothing but violent blazing. He could see no hope of escape through there.

Devastated, he turned to Cree who was assessing the situation herself.

"We'll have to find another way."

They looked around them.

"What other way?" Chad asked desperately.

Cree's expression was clear—she couldn't answer that question.

A sudden idea occurred to him and he extended his arm laser and aimed it at the wall, any wall.

"Don't!" Cree shouted just as his laser began to power up. "You don't know where that might lead to, and this whole building's already weak--it could collapse any minute!"

"Then I don't know what else to do!"

"We'll…think of something," she tried to sound confident between chokes. "Don't look at me like that! We'll be okay."

Chad averted his eyes to fix on something else. Despair had sunk in. _I wanted to save her…but now…. When I wished I could spend the rest of my life with Cree, this isn't what I meant at all…._

He unfastened her facemask and returned it to her.

"You can hold onto it for a little longer," she offered, clearly gagging on the fumes.

He only shook his head sadly and held it to her.

"Okay," she said, fastening the mask. "But don't give up hope. Let's go back the way we came." She took his hand again and he followed.

They were exiting the room when a figure leapt out at them from the smoke, and they both jumped in surprise.

"Cree! Thank God!"

"Maurice!"

Chad's hand was immediately released as she rushed to her boyfriend and clung to him. "Chad said you were outside."

"I was. I panicked and ran when the fire started. I'm so sorry."

Chad just stared at the two of them as they left together, Maurice leading Cree away, saying, "there's another exit this way, the fire hasn't quite reached it yet," Cree still holding fast to him, confessing, "I was so scared." Chad, forgotten, stood rooted in place. The room was starting to tilt and distort, the stifling heat and smoke was pressing in all around him. Somehow he felt worse than when he thought he was going to die.

He thought he heard someone call his name as the ground rushed up at him.

---  
---

author's notes: to be continued, of course. ;P  
have you noticed that both as a football player and as a Battle-Ready-Armor-wearing teen, Chad doesn't wear a helmet? (check out the Official KND Production Site to see Chad in all his BRA-wearing, helmet-disregarding glory!) one ponders why he doesn't bother with the helmet. does he not want to mess up the hair?  
vanity aside, it's true--Battle Ready Armor seems fairly useless. those of you who saw how poorly they fared in SLUMBER know what i mean.


	8. wake

Chad slowly surfaced to consciousness. He resisted—something in his mind told him it was better where he was, in the insentient void. But he woke in spite of himself.

He opened his eyes to view an excess of pink. He stared at it without comprehension for a moment then closed his eyes again, deciding that he was dreaming.

"Chad?" came her voice somewhere off to the right.

He smiled inwardly. He was definitely dreaming.

He felt himself slipping back into the void when a hand—_her_ hand reached out and touched his own that was resting on his stomach.

She shook him lightly. "Chad? Chad, wake up."

Again his body was reluctant to do so, and he squeezed his eyes tighter shut in refusal.

"Chad," she persisted, jiggling his hand.

With some effort he lifted his other hand and placed it on top of hers, holding it still.

He heard her let out a little chuckle, but at the same time there was a small snicker from the other side of the room. One that he knew only too well. _What the hell is that bastard doing in my dream?_

He opened his eyes again. Again he saw large quantities of pink, but this time Cree was in his field of vision, peering at him.

She smiled. "Welcome back."

He still hadn't released her hand, sandwiched between two of his own, and didn't intend to. He simply gazed at her, vaguely wondering where they were.

She pulled her hand away. Chad's then felt oddly lonely. His eyelids lowered, no longer feeling the need to keep awake.

"Chad," she said again, her voice sounding a little worn.

"Maybe you should leave him alone."

For once, Chad agreed with Maurice.

"He should at least drink something. It's not like my house comes equipped with saline and IVs, and at this point I can't tell if he's just tired or in some kind of dehydrated coma. Besides, this is my bed!"

That at least answered the question of where they were.

"Chad," she said with increasing insistency. "Drink this."

With greater difficulty than before, he opened his eyes, again seeing Cree come into focus, and all the pink, which he now identified as the canopy of her bed. Cree was holding a mug up to him. He stared at it wearily.

"Can you sit up? Maurice, come over and help pull him up."

"I can sit up," Chad croaked, struggling to do so. He did _not _want the assistance of Maurice. Though he felt he was being bound down with metal bands, he eventually managed to prop himself up.

Cree immediately shoved the cup to his lips, and he took it and drank. It was filled with a warm liquid. After several large swallows he choked on something, and realized there were bits of things in it. Further inspection proved that he was drinking some kind of noodle soup. A couple gulps later, and he was able to taste it. Chicken.

He hadn't quite finished, but he was feeling very drowsy. He moved to place the cup on the nightstand, missing, causing Cree to leap forward to catch it. Then he lay back down and sank once again into nothingness.

---

Chad opened his eyes. He saw the pink canopy and recalled where he was. His mind finally cleared of the confused fog it was shrouded in earlier, and he remembered—

The fire. What had happened after he blacked out?

He sat up. Or rather, he tried to, but his muscles weren't being cooperative. He felt as though an entire angry mob had gathered around to kick him repeatedly. But he managed, and once he was up he saw the other two. To the right was Cree, seated at her desk with her back to him. To his left, sitting in a cushioned chair near the door, was Maurice. Unfortunately, it was Maurice who noticed Chad first.

"Cree," he said.

"What is it, honey?"

Chad was too busy staring at the glass of water on the dresser next to Maurice to be too bothered by her pet names.

"He's up."

Cree turned. "Oh! How are you feeling, Chad?"

He meant to say "fine," but "thirsty" was the first word out of his mouth.

"You must be," she smiled understandingly. "Maurice, would you mind giving Chad your water?"

Maurice didn't seem overly pleased with the suggestion, but he picked up the glass and walked over to the bed.

Chad regarded the water coldly, which had suddenly become far less attractive. He didn't want to accept any favors from Maurice. Not to mention the fact that Cree had called it 'Maurice's water,' which probably meant it was swarming with his cooties. When the glass was held out to him, Chad muttered, "I don't want it."

"Chad, don't be such a baby," Cree reproved.

"I'll get my own."

Maurice just scowled at him and pulled the glass away, then very deliberately took several large swallows of it.

"What is wrong with you?" Cree demanded

Chad at first thought the object of her aggravation was her boyfriend, but he then realized it was himself.

"Nothing," he replied, defensive. "I can get my own water." He moved painfully to the edge of the bed.

"Maurice saved your life, you know. He's the one who dragged you out of the fire after you passed out."

For several seconds Chad did nothing but sit very still as this information sank in. Then he started shaking, and turned to face Cree. "He did _what!"_

"You heard me. He saved your life."

Chad felt his throat closing up. He couldn't believe it. He _wouldn't_ believe it. He owed his life to the one person on the planet that he hated the most? He shook his head, a tight, rigid shake. "No," he said, as if he could deny it. "No."

"Aren't you going to thank him for saving you life?" Her voice was that of a stern parent urging her child to develop social graces.

Maurice meanwhile had taken several steps back. To his credit, he didn't look smug at all, but very uncomfortable. "That's okay, Cree."

"It's not okay," Cree said, the anger growing in her voice. She leaned forward, propping her hands on the bed. "Chad, all this time you've refused to be friends with Maurice. He's just saved your life. Aren't you going to be friends with him now?"

Chad's face had hardened into a resolute scowl. "_No."_

The sound of her hand across his cheek rang in the room. "I can't believe you! He saved both our lives!" She stalked out, slamming the door behind her.

Chad just sat, in shock. Maurice seemed equally stunned and lingered indecisively for a moment, avoiding looking at the other, before also exiting.

Chad crumpled into a small, miserable heap. He wished he could erase the last ten minutes, or better yet, the entire last day. He wished that he were anywhere but there. He wished he were in his own bed so he could curl up and sleep and forget that whole horrible day.

Why had Maurice saved his life? Chad hated him with a burning fury and doubted highly that he would do the same if the situations were reversed. He bitterly wished that Maurice had left him to die, he wished that he had never come back to save—

But that wasn't true. Maurice had saved Cree's life as well. Chad knew the situation at the Plant had been grim, he felt that he was facing death; chances of ever getting out of there were slim. He had given up hope. He had returned Cree's facemask because of his final, pathetically selfish wish—he didn't want to watch Cree die.

Chad sunk his head into his hands. _Worthless loser…._

---

Maurice lingered outside of Numbuh Five's closed door. He wondered if she were inside. Back when they were both in Sector V, she used to split her nights fairly evenly between her home and the Treehouse. He wouldn't be surprised if she spent more time over there these days.

He needed to talk to someone, and Abby was the only one who could come close to understanding. He felt…guilty. It was his fault that Cree had almost died. He never meant to put her in that kind of danger. He thought back to their times in Sector V. Cree had saved his life more times than he could count. He had admired her a great deal in those days. Why had she changed so much?

And now he had to deceive her on a daily basis. But she deserved it, right? She had betrayed the organization that they had all worked so hard to defend, she had become the very thing they had fought against.

_I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing the right thing_, he kept repeating to himself.

But then why the uncertainty? Why did he feel the need to see Abby, to pour his heart out to her and ask, "_Am_ I doing the right thing?" Why did he need her approval?

A sound from behind him made him start. He turned to see Chad leaning against the wall, trying to catch his breath. He looked in bad shape, and his cheek was still slightly red from where Cree had slapped him. Chad was staring at a point somewhere off to the left. Maurice shifted uncomfortably and decided to leave, heading for the stairs.

"Wait," said Chad, still gulping for air.

Maurice stopped and faced him, awaiting the coming insult, jibe, or accusation. _At least this time I probably deserve it._

Panting for breath and clearly in pain, Chad focused on the floor at Maurice's feet. He said only one word: "Thanks."

Maurice gaped at him, having no idea how to reply. So he just nodded at the other, and then headed quickly down the stairs.

_An interaction with Chad where he wasn't a complete jerk. Surprise, surprise._

_---  
---_

author's notes: what can i say? Chad's life sucks. a lot. but hey, he's not dead!_  
_


	9. Hedgehog's Dilemma

author's notes: remember a while back when i said that i would use "---" to indicate a change in point-of-view? i do that towards the end of this chapter. i hope it isn't too jarring.

---  
---

He had to shut his heart. There was no other choice. He had to accept it—not only that she would never love him, but that he didn't deserve her. He needed to keep repeating that to himself until he stopped wanting her.

---

Cree and Maurice sat at a familiar booth at Romantic Burger. Their food had finally arrived, and Cree was rather glad to have an ostensible reason for their lack of conversation. Lately their dates were filled with long stretches of silence wherein they both brooded, together but separate.

Cree sometimes wondered what it was exactly that her boyfriend dwelled on during their times together. She asked him a couple of times, but he just said it was nothing, and that he was tired, or thinking about upcoming exams or something. Plausible reasons, but Cree doubted he was saying what had really been on his mind. He never asked her what she had been occupied with, and she didn't supply any answers.

She absently scraped the mayonnaise off her hamburger bun. It had been over a week since she had seen Chad. It wasn't as if she missed him, it was just…weird not seeing him in so long. They usually saw each other in school every day, and he often dropped by her house for some reason or other. His constant visits used to get on her nerves, especially when he came by when she was trying to get cozy with Maurice. But now…well, it was just weird. She reassembled her lunch and took a bite, chewing slowly.

He was probably just moping, or avoiding her out of petulance. He could be such a baby sometimes. She was still mad at him, the way he treated Maurice.

Cree put down her burger. It was good, but she wasn't very hungry. Even Maurice was picking at his food, not really eating it. Cree watched as he pushed the fries around on his plate.

"How is your food?"

Cree looked up to see that same sympathetic waiter from last time. He always seemed to catch her on bad days.

"We're fine," she said a little defensively.

He smiled and nodded, which shouldn't have annoyed her, but it did.

She moved closer to Maurice, but he didn't look at her. It was only when she rested her head against his shoulder that he glanced at her, giving her a brief, perfunctory smile. As she stared up into his face, she wondered again why he was even quieter than usual these days. And lately when she kissed him…well, she might as well be kissing a wall.

_Not that I ever get much of a response from him anyways…._

She sat up and moved away from him, stifling a sigh. "I haven't seen Chad in a while. Have you?"

Maurice turned to look at her, almost surprised, as if he hadn't realized that she had been sitting next to him all this time.

"Huh? Chad? No, I haven't seen him."

"He's such a jerkface."

Maurice mumbled absently in reply.

"I still can't believe he didn't even thank you after you saved his life."

He was silent, and Cree began to think he hadn't been listening. But then he seemed to pull himself back into the current situation. "What? Chad? He did, actually. He thanked me that day, after you left."

Cree stared at Maurice, wide-eyed. "He did? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think it mattered."

And then they were silent again, each lost in their separate thoughts.

---

Cree rang the doorbell and nervously played with her hair. Several seconds later the door opened, and a blond, middle-aged woman answered the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Dickson," said Cree, sounding a little over-enthusiastic.

"Oh…hello, there…uh…."

"Cree."

"Oh, yes, Cree. How nice to see you. Did Chad invite you over?" She seemed more than a little surprised.

"No, I just wanted to drop by. I haven't seen him in a while."

"Yes, the poor dear hasn't been feeling well. Oh, how rude of me, come in." She stood aside and let Cree into her impeccably clean entrance hall then motioned her into her impeccably clean living room.

"Thank you. Er…should I take off my shoes?"

They both stared at her far-from-impeccably clean shoes, which contrasted against the pale-hued carpet.

"Oh, that's okay," Mrs. Dickson answered hesitantly. "I'll tell Chad you're here."

She headed up the stairs and down a short hall, pausing at a closed door. She knocked on it lightly.

"Chad? You have a visitor. Chris, I think…?"

"Cree," she corrected directly behind her.

"Oh!" Mrs. Dickson whipped around. "I thought you were going to wait downstairs."

"Should I have?" she asked, embarrassed.

"Oh…well, since you're here." She opened the door. "I'm sorry it's a mess, Chad hasn't had the energy to clean lately," she said in a low voice.

Cree peered inside. The room was neater than her room had ever been. She looked to the left where there were two small desks, one with a computer on it, one without. Seated at the desk without the computer with his back to them was Chad. He was sort of slumped in his chair, and hadn't reacted to their entrance at all.

"Chad, dear," Mrs. Dickson repeated louder, "you have a guest."

"Hi, Chad," Cree greeted.

He seemed to sit up straighter, but didn't turn around.

Mrs. Dickson sighed and looked at Cree. "I'm afraid he's been like this for days," she said as if Chad weren't there. "He goes to school, but when he's not there he shuts himself in his room and doesn't come out. He's even been neglecting his violin lessons and Young High Society Society Meetings." She shook her head disapprovingly. "Well, I'll let you two talk." Her tone made it clear that she doubted Cree would get a word out of him. She left the room.

Cree approached him slowly, eyes roving around the room. The bed was neatly made, the walls were bare except for a calendar over one of the desks.

"So…how are you feeling?" she ventured.

He didn't reply, and Cree sighed. It looked like she'd be talking to another wall.

But then he answered in a voice that was almost a whisper. "Fine."

_Well, it was something._

She continued to look around the room with curiosity. There were two bookshelves, one filled with books, the other with awards and trophies. Cree had noticed a similar display of trophies in the living room; she presumed that he must have so many that the overflow ended up here.

"You sure have a lot of trophies."

Again there was a delay before the response. "They're a pain. I have to dust them every week."

Cree laughed lightly. "I guess it's always something."

There was a pause as she tried to think of something else to say.

"What are you doing here?" he finally asked.

Cree frowned. That wasn't much of a 'happy to see you' thing to say. "I haven't seen you around, not even in school, so I came by to visit. Your mom says you haven't been feeling well."

Silence.

"If this is a bad time, I could come back later," she said, stating to feel somewhat offended.

"…no."

Cree pondered over his answer. "'No' as in 'don't go,' or 'no' as in 'don't come back'?"

Still without looking at her, he murmured, "don't go."

She decided his response was satisfactory and walked over to sit on his bed, where she had an excellent view of the back of his head. "So why haven't I seen you at school?"

"I've been there."

"So your mom says, but I haven't seen you."

"It's not like we have any classes together or anything."

Cree could tell this conversation was going nowhere. Searching her brain for another topic, she said, "Did you see the news reports on the fire?"

He said nothing in reply and she suddenly wondered—_is he angry with me? In our last interaction, I…._

She continued quickly. "They don't have any solid leads or suspects. I just wanted to say 'good job' on hacking into their security cameras beforehand."

Chad only shrugged. He still hadn't turned to look at her this entire time.

_Maybe he is angry._

"So, I was thinking," she began again, eager to change the subject, "the three of us don't hang out enough. We should all go to the mall or something. You know, just spend time with each other when we're not on a mission. I think—"

"Cree," he interrupted.

She stopped and watched him.

Slowly, and with apparent difficulty, he continued. "I…don't think I should be part of the team anymore."

---

He had finally said what he had been mulling over for the past week and more. It would be better if he stopped seeing her. Then maybe he could finally move on. He didn't deserve her love, and he couldn't stand just being friends. So he had been avoiding her at school. In truth, the only reason they saw so much of each other at school was because he knew her schedule, and had used to purposely use the hallways that he knew she would be taking to get from one class to another, even if it was out of his way. Lately he had been doing the opposite in order to steer clear of her. Out of sight, out of mind, right? It was getting better already; he was already thinking of her less. He came home directly after school each day, and sat in his room, and did _not_ think of her. Her showing up was completely unexpected, and threatened to ruin everything. But he thought maybe if he didn't look at her, not even a peek, then maybe he would be okay.

Cree had been silent since his resignation announcement. But not for long. "What? Why?"

"I just…don't see the point. You don't need me around anyway." _It's true. I'm useless. You're better off without me._

"What are you talking about? How can you even think that—"

"I completely messed up on that last mission. I don't want—"

"No you didn't. It wasn't your fault. It was those stupid Kids Next—"

"I just don't want…."

He heard Cree stand from the bed and approach him. He stiffened and turned away slightly. He would _not_ look at her. He wouldn't.

"Chad, I know that last mission went badly. But it wasn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself."

_Why are you trying to make me feel better? Stop it. Just stop._

She was standing right next to him now. "And…about what happened afterwards…" she faltered. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I shouldn't have—"

"It's okay," he cut her off brusquely. _Please, stop. Just leave me alone._

"But it's not," she said, her voice wavering. "Especially after…you came in to rescue me. You risked your life…and all I did to repay you was…."

"But I failed, didn't I?" he growled. "I didn't save you. All I did was nearly get us both killed." _Why don't you understand? All that stupid situation did was prove that I don't deserve you._

"That's not the point. When I was in there by myself…I was scared. I didn't know what to do. Seeing you gave me courage. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up. Thank you."

Chad sat rigidly in his chair, eyes burning. The wrenching pain in his chest wouldn't go away.

Cree was trying to look him in the face, but he wouldn't let her. So she reached out instead with open arms to hug him.

He cringed away. _Don't touch me. I don't know what I'd do…._

Her arms dropped, and he refused to look at her hurt expression.

"Fine," he said hoarsely. "I won't quit the team." It didn't make a difference either way. _It was stupid of me to think that I was getting over her. It was stupid of me to think I could ever stop wanting her._

He heard her take in a breath then let it out slowly. "I'm glad."

---  
---

author's notes: Cree and Chad keep getting closer and then pushing each other away. hence the chapter title, which was stolen from _Evangelion_, by the way.


	10. dream

"_And I swear I will never rest until I find the source of the teens' pox and totally, utterly, completely destroy it!"_

_Cree gazed starry-eyed at Maurice. He looked so handsome, standing tall on his bed in his pajamas. She was so focused on admiring him that she had stopped listening to his words._

_The next day she was shocked to see him packed up. His room in Sector V's Treehouse was empty._

"_Numbuh Nine? What are you doing? Where's all your stuff?"_

_He smiled at her. "Goodbye, Numbuh Eleven. It was an honor fighting adult tyranny beside you. You're the best Sector leader out there, continue to fight the good fight."_

"_What? Goodb--? Where are you going?"_

"_To find the teen's source of chicken pox," he replied, looking slightly offended. "Like I said yesterday."_

"_But—but you don't have to leave to do that. We can all search for it together."_

_He shook his head. "This is something I have to do alone. I already asked Numbuh 100, he's given me clearance for this mission."_

"_But…no, you can't leave. We need you here in Sector V. We've already lost Numbuhs Eight A and Eight B."_

"_They'll assign new operatives to this Sector. And under your leadership, I'm sure you'll have another awesome team in no time." He saluted her then held out his hand to shake hers._

_Cree grasped it with both of hers. "No, don't go. Numbuh—Maurice, stay here…with me. I don't want you to go. Please, stay."_

_He smiled that distant smile of his, and she knew she was going to lose him._

_Suddenly the scene changed. Everything faded to black and Maurice—was it still him?—was ahead of her, leaving._

"_Wait!" she called, starting after him. But he was too fast; she soon lost him in the blackness. "Don't go!" she shouted, but it was no use. She still ran, chasing after something she had already lost._

_But then a hand reached out from behind and took hers. It was comforting. Who…?_

---

"Cree? Cree, wake up, you're dreaming."

She opened her eyes to find herself on the couch in her living room.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up to see the face of her boyfriend peering down at her, and she suddenly remembered that she had been watching TV with him on the couch. She had rested her head on his lap and fallen asleep. It was just a dream, and Maurice was here with her now, and he wouldn't leave. She sat up and held him tight.

"I'm okay. It was just a dream."

"Seemed like a nightmare."

She nodded. "It was about when you left Sector—" she cut herself off. Maurice had been decommissioned, he didn't remember his days as a member of Sector V. Sometimes she wished he remembered; there were so many things they experienced together that she now had to pretend had never happened. She had to rephrase herself. "I dreamt I was losing you." It was true enough.

He was silent.

"Tell me I won't lose you."

---

Maurice sat on the couch. Her head was resting in his lap. It was hard deciding what to do with his hands; he didn't want to touch her more than was necessary. He settled on positioning one on the armrest, and hooking his other arm over the back of the couch.

When he heard the front door open he knew who it would be even before he turned. But he turned anyways.

"Hi, Abby."

"Hi, Maurice."

She was looking at Cree, her head nestled in his lap. It was always so hard to read what Abby was thinking. He looked down at Cree as well. She seemed sound asleep.

"Abby," he said quietly. "I need to talk to you."

She was still gazing at her sister. Cree suddenly stirred and then made a small sound like a whimper.

Maurice stared down at her. Would she always be an obstacle in his way?

"Stop. Don't," Cree talked in her sleep, beginning to thrash slightly.

"You should wake her," Abby told him as Cree murmured, "Stay…don't go." Then she turned away and walked up the stairs.

Maurice watched her leave and sighed before he nudging her sister. "Cree? Cree, wake up, you're dreaming." He reached out and shook her gingerly.

Her eyes opened and she stared around the room.

"Are you okay?"

For a moment she just stared at him, but then she sat up suddenly and entwined her arms around him. "I'm okay. It was just a dream."

"Seemed like a nightmare."

"It was about when you left Sector—"

She stopped and he knew why. She was remembering when he left Sector V. He thought of their last conversation with each other as KND operatives. It seemed so long ago. It _was_ long ago. But he remembered. And looking back now, he realized what he didn't realize then—that even then she cared about him in a way he never did about her.

It was hard pretending not to remember all the times they shared together in Sector V. Things were so much easier back then. Why did life always have to become more complicated?

"I dreamt I was losing you."

He didn't know what to say.

"Tell me I won't lose you."

He wondered sometimes whether this would all be easier if he had the same feelings for her that she had for him. Maybe then holding her close and kissing her wouldn't feel so…demoralizing. Now, every time he looked at her, he was looking straight through her to a place he'd rather be. What did she see when she looked at him? Her loving boyfriend? Could she possibly be that blind?

She was looking at him now with that unseeing gaze. _What do you want from me? Another lie? You want me to tell you that you won't lose me? How can you lose something you never had in the first place?_

But aloud he said, "You won't."

---  
---

author's notes: Cree/Maurice. ah, the dysfunctionality. and another Chadless chapter. shock! and stuff.


	11. reunion

author's notes: hey, everyone! sorry it's taken so long for me to update this story, but you now how life is. anyways, here's the next chapter, longer (and weirder) than usual!

---  
---

The three of them sat at the noisy, crowded pizza place. Their table seemed to be the only one that didn't add to the general din. Cree blew bubbles into her soda through her bendy straw. She glanced at Maurice then Chad. Both of them were sullen—silent and brooding. Their idea of hanging out apparently meant sitting and saying nothing.

She looked from one to the other again, and sighed. Their gloominess was contagious. But still, she thought she should try to be cheerful. She couldn't think of something that would brighten both of them, so she decided on the one-at-a-time approach. Settling on Maurice, she took his hand. _At least he doesn't flinch when I touch him. Of course, he doesn't react much at all._ She peeked at Chad, hoping for a hint of surliness at her action—he never approved of their displays of affection in the past. Now, however, he seemed impassive, if not slightly depressed. She couldn't be sure if he saw them at all.

She focused then on her boyfriend, who didn't appear to have noticed that she had taken his hand. It just laid there in hers like a dead fish. She brought it up to rest it against her cheek, and tried to think of something to say.

"So how was school today, Boo?"

She frowned. That was more of a mom question than a girlfriend one.

"School? It was fine."

"So what do you want to order?" _Dammit, why can't I think of anything good to say?_

"Anything you want is fine."

She removed his hand from her cheek and gazed at it, palm up, as if she were trying to read it. She didn't know why she was doing such a miserable job at cheering up Maurice; maybe she would have had better luck with Chad.

She glanced at him. Chad was staring past them out the window. Lately, he just seemed…glum, yes, but more than that. He seemed entirely devoid of motivation.

Cree frowned worriedly. It had been over a month since the fire at the manufacturing plant, and still he was like this. Not seeing him smile was nothing new, but he didn't even try to pick fights with Maurice anymore. Whenever they were together, he just sat, stared, and said nothing. If only he would talk to her, then she might know what to do to make him feel better. He needed a friend. She had hoped that she might be someone he could open up to, but he always kept her at a distance. Of course Maurice wouldn't do, and there didn't seem to be anyone at school that he was particularly close to. He was on so many teams and belonged to so many clubs, yet he always seemed so alone.

---

The phone rang, and a girl around ten or eleven years old answered. "Hello?"

She listened for a moment. "Yeah, he's here, wait a sec." She flagged down her older brother and tossed him the phone. "It's for you. Someone named Cree."

He stared at the phone suspiciously. "What's a Cree?"

"I dunno, she said that was her name."

"It's a girl? Why didn't you say so!" He immediately put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Cree, baby, it seems like forever since I've heard your voice; did ya miss me?"

His sister rolled her eyes and left the room.

"Uh…" Cree hesitated on the other end of the line, "Hi, this is Kenny, right? I'm sorry, but you don't know me. I'm—"

"Someone who saw me in a crowd and decided you had to meet me?" he filled in eagerly.

"No," she answered, growing increasingly uncomfortable. "No, I'm a friend of Chad's."

Pause. "Who?"

"Chad Dickson, you were friends before you moved away to Hawaii."

"Chad…. Nope, not ringing any bells."

His sister, who had evidentally been eavesdropping, reentered the room and cried, "What? You and Chad were best friends for years!"

"I don't think so, why would I hang out with anyone with a name that dorky?"

The girl wrested the phone from her older brother. "Hello?" she said into it eagerly, "are you a friend of Chad's?"

"Yes," replied Cree, relieved to be talking to someone comprehensible.

"Hi, I'm Natalie, and unfortunately related to that loser you were just talking to. So how is Chad? It's been so long since I've heard anything from him that I thought he must have forgotten all about me. I mean—us."

"He's…well, he's okay…but not really. He's been down in the dumps lately, actually."

"Did he own a chicken?" Kenny butted in, "'cause I'm remembering somethin' about a chicken."

"No, that was you, chowderhead, shut up and let me talk." She continued in a more pleasant tone to Cree. "I'm sorry to hear that Chad's feeling crappy and stuff. Is that why you called?"

"Yeah, actually. You see, he doesn't seem to have too many friends around here."

"What about Jessie and Brian?"

"Who?" Cree asked.

"Um…I don't remember their last names. Hold on a sec. Hey, doofus!" Nat shouted in a surprisingly loud voice, causing Cree to yank the phone from her ear. "Do you remember Jessie's and Brian's last names?"

"Who?"

"Useless."

"And hey—doofus right back at ya."

"Hello? Cree? No, that moron brother of mine doesn't remember a thing."

"That's okay, sometimes people forget things."

"Not like he does."

"Yeah…I know the type. Well, thanks, it was nice talking to—"

"Is that why you called?" Natalie cut in, "For a chat?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Then why did you call?"

"I don't really know. I guess a part of me was hoping to arrange some kind of reunion, but since he doesn't even remember Chad—"

"Our dad still lives up there, you know. It's been a long time since we've visited him."

"Did he have a parakeet?" Kenny interrupted.

"No! That was the old lady who lived next door. You are such a lamebrain!"

Cree listened perplexedly to the sound of a sibling scuffle on the other end of the line, beginning to doubt the brilliance of her idea.

---

The doorbell rang and Cree opened the front door to see a well-tanned boy in a Hawaiian shirt.

As he stared at her a wide grin spread across his face. "I really hope you're Cree."

"Ye—" she started when he launched himself at her.

Her fist made contact with his mouth before anything else did.

He made a quick recovery, and acting as if this last interaction hadn't happened, the boy (who Cree now realized was Kenny) asked, "So is Chuck here or what?"

"His name's Chad, and he's not here, but he will be any minute. Where's your sister? I was hoping to meet her."

"I ditched her. You don't want her around, trust me."

Cree frowned at him just as the doorbell rang again.

Kenny threw the door open before Cree could stop him.

"Hey! Chad! Long time no see!" he exclaimed to a baffled-looking Maurice.

"No! That's not him!" groaned Cree, pulling him back. "This is my boyfriend, Maurice."

Maurice entered, eyeing the other warily, muttering a "'sup?"

"Oh…your _boyfriend,"_ Kenny said, returning the stare in a similar manner.

"Um…honey, this is Kenny, he was in Sector-- I mean, he's an old friend of Chad's."

"And he's here why?"

"I thought it would be nice if…. Okay, so I messed up," Cree admitted miserably.

Kenny shoved his hands into his pockets and began looking around the room uninterestedly. Cree watched him as if he were a bomb that was about to go off any minute. Maurice seemed to have decided that the best course of action was to get as far away from the newcomer as possible, and moved towards the kitchen.

"So…when's what's-his-name getting here again?"

"It's Chad, and he'll be here really soon. He's probably on his way now…I hope…." Her last words were mumbled to herself.

"Yeah, well, tell him I got bored. I'll be back later." He exited out the door he entered.

"But—" Cree called after him, caught between wanting to supervise the reunion and her desire to get him out of her house.

"Don't miss me too much." Kenny waved as he continued down the walkway. As he reached the sidewalk, he passed Chad, who did a visible double take.

"Yo," Kenny said as he strolled by.

Chad stared at him as if he were a ghost, an alien, or a giant talking pineapple.

Walking out the door, Cree put a hand to her forehead in a gesture of defeated disbelief.

Chad finally turned and looked at Cree. He pointed to Kenny's departing form and stood aghast.

She shrugged sheepishly. "I thought…. I thought it would be nice if you met again. Reconciled your friendship and stuff, you know?"

Chad's eyes looked dangerously close to popping from their sockets. "_You_ did this?"

"You make it sound as if I committed a crime."

"Why? Why would you do such a thing?"

"It'll be good. You'll feel better. Really," she insisted. Then she hollered down the street, "Kenny! Come back!"

He zipped back with alarming speed. "Decided to ditch your boyfriend?" he asked with a sly smile.

"Look, it's Chad." She indicated the scowling person beside her.

"Who?"

Cree groaned.

"Hey—you look kinda familiar." Kenny frowned pensively.

"Really?" Cree asked hopefully.

"Didn't I just walk by you?" he continued.

"I told you it was useless," muttered Chad.

"Ugh, it's…why don't you both come inside." Cree herded the two of them into her house. "Kenny, look at him. Are you sure you don't remember him at all? You were best friends."

He crossed his arms, tilted his head, and stared at Chad. "Mmm…nope."

Chad only glared and kept quiet

"You could at least talk to him," Cree urged him in a whisper.

"No, he doesn't remember me, it wouldn't do any good," Chad muttered back.

Kenny looked from one to the other, bored once again. "Okay, then, that was worth the nine hour flight! Well, it's been real. It's been fun. Can't say it's been real fun…." He headed out the door again.

"Wait—" started Cree, going after him, "you can't just—"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot!" Kenny grabbed her and planted his lips on hers.

"Urk!" She was about to punch him, but someone beat her to it.

Not Maurice. Chad. He looked furious.

"What'd ya hit me for?" Kenny whined. "All I did was kiss—" he stopped, as if a light had suddenly been switched on in his brain. "Oh…wait…I think I know what's going on."

Chad watched him guardedly.

"Yeah," said Kenny, the wheels of his brain turning faster now. "I kissed Hot Stuff and then you got all jealous and pissed off." He crossed his arms and nodded sagely. "I get it now."

"No you don't. You never understand anything," Chad was quick to deny. He glanced nervously at Cree, who was wiping her mouth.

"Sure I do. I mean—I don't swing that way, but I've got friends like you, so I'm cool with it."

Chad stared, running the other's words through his brain. "What?"

"But like I said, I'm straight, so like, don't try to kiss me or anything."

"_What!"_

"Don't take it personally, man, we can still be friends and whatever."

"You don't think-- No! No, that's not it at all!" Chad sputtered.

"Dude, don't start shouting and stuff; it's not that I don't like you, it's just that I like the _ladies_."

Chad couldn't decide whether to scream or to throttle Kenny. Or send him on a collision course with the sun. "Look, you've got it all wrong! I'm not gay!"

"Hey, man, there's nothing wrong with—"

"I know that! But I'm not!"

Kenny was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded, which was a bad sign. "I see. Still in the closet, huh? Well, I don't want to out you or anything, but you should really come out. I'm sure you'll find the right guy out there somewhere." He punched Chad in the arm encouragingly.

Chad only set his jaw and glared at Kenny in a murderous manner, trying to keep his breathing even. No matter how many times he tried to explain to Kenny, he knew he would never get it through his impenetrable skull. He then focused on Cree, who was watching them and clearly doing everything she could not to laugh. _It would have been better if Kenny had just blurted out how I feel about her!_

"Well, I'm blowing this popsicle stand," Kenny announced. "Good luck with…you know, stuff." After a final wink at Cree, he was out the door.

Once he was out of earshot, Chad grabbed fistfuls of his hair and roared. Then he pointed accusingly at Cree.

_"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"_

"I…I…" she stammered, covering her mouth in an attempt to suppress her laughter.

"_What the hell were you thinking!"_

"I'm sorry! I never expected—" her words were cut off by a guffaw.

"Stop laughing!"

'I—well—at least he's not angry at you about the decommissioning, right?" She snickered a little before taking a breath and continuing, "I think it's a step in the right direction."

"I can't believe you! I'm—I—" he stammered, and finding himself unable to finish the sentence, he turned to stomp out of the house.

On his way out, he passed Abby, who glanced at him but said nothing. Chad's only greeting was a growl of general anger and frustration.

She frowned and continued inside her house, where she saw Cree grinning with an expression of irrepressible glee.

"You look happy," Abby observed.

"Chad's yelling again," Cree said, almost proudly. "I think he'll be fine."

---

That night Chad lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, doing a sort of mental inventory of his life. He still didn't have Cree. Maurice was still alive. His childhood best friend now thought he was gay, and it was Cree's fault.

But still, he couldn't help chuckling over the whole ridiculous situation. Kenny was such an idiot. And Chad hadn't seen Cree looking that happy in quite a while. In all this time that he had been pining over her, he had been so focused on his own unhappiness. It was only now after he had seen her beaming, laughing expression that he realized it had been a while since he last saw it. When had he last seen it? When was the last time she was truly happy?

Well then, he was glad that the ludicrous incident made her happy, even it was at his expense. And not only that…the whole experience made him realize that she must care about him in some way. Why would she go through all that trouble of tracking down Kenny if she didn't? And that was something. It wasn't exactly what he had been hoping for, but it was something.

_She doesn't love me, but she likes me enough to want to mess with my life._

That would have to be good enough.

_We're friends._

He cringed slightly. What is it about that word that can be warming in some situations, but soul-crushing in others?

_Friends…._

Still, it was something.

---  
---

author's notes: surprisingly little angst in this one. well, as it's been said, it's pretty hard to angst when Kenny's in the room. Kenny's been trying to break into this fic for a while now, hopefully this'll appease him.


	12. sisters

_Cree snuck into her sister's room and crept towards the bed. There her little sister slept soundly. Cree smiled at her. She even wore that hat in her sleep._

_Cree reached out and touched Abby's shoulder. "Wake up." She shook the shoulder slightly._

_She grumbled slightly and rolled onto her back. "Hm? What is it? Numbuh Five was dreaming about candy…."_

"_Abby, listen to me. You know what day it is tomorrow, don't you?"_

_Her little sister finally opened her eyes to look at her. "Yeah, sis. It's your birthday."_

"_My thirteenth birthday." Abby was silent so Cree continued, "They're going to decommission me. You…know what that means, don't you?"_

_The young girl focused her solemn eyes on her older sibling. "It means you can't be a Kids Next Door operative anymore."_

"_Not only that. They're going to erase my memories of ever being an operative. I won't remember all the time we've spent together in Sector V."_

_Cree watched sadness set into her sister's face. She was still only a child, but she understood all too well the ramifications of this. She sat up._

_Cree's face became serious, the way it did when she gave orders as Sector leader. "But listen. If we leave now, both of us, they'll never be able to catch us."_

"_What?"_

"_We're the best of the best, they'd never defeat us, not if we're together."_

_Numbuh Five continued to stare dumbfounded at her sister._

"_We would have to leave the Kids Next Door, but at least we'll be together, and both our memories would be intact."_

"_But…Numbuh Eleven," Abby quavered._

"_Don't look like that, it won't be so bad. There's no other way. Abby, please. Come with me. Let's go. Now." She reached out and grabbed her little sister by the wrist and attempted to pull her from bed._

_Abby resisted, shaking her head in a tight, small shake._

"_Just grab some stuff, just enough for a week or so. We'll come back later, it's not like we're running away from home, I've already written a note to Dad."_

_Numbuh Five started shaking her head more violently._

"_Don't just sit there, Abby—"_

"_No!" she finally shouted, yanking her arm free._

_Cree gaped at her little sister. "No…? 'No' what?"_

"_No," she repeated in a steadier voice. "I'm not going, Cree."_

_The older girl just stared at the other for a long while, opening and closing her mouth, stuck at the point of starting a sentence and never quite making it. "What?" she finally managed._

"_I'm staying."_

_Cree's shock was apparent in every fiber of her being. The way she stood, half-bent over Abby's bed, frozen in place, expression locked with wide eyes and questioning brows._

"_Why?"_

_Numbuh Five clenched her blanket in her small fists, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head once more. "I'm staying," she repeated, but her voice was small and strangled._

_Finally movement was restored to Cree. She took in a great, shuddering breath as she stared at her small sister. "Fine," she managed to choke out before turning and running from the room. She ran to her own, flinging open the door and grabbing the already packed suitcase that lay waiting on her bed. Then she plunged out the window, activating her jet boots, and flew off into the dark night._

_She didn't look back._

Again the memory faded to black, and Cree, as she was now, a teenager, found herself running. Or chasing, rather. Who was she chasing? Abby—it was her, she recognized the hat. Her little sister, dearer to her than anything in the world, was running away from her, farther and farther until she disappeared in the darkness.

Cree stopped, her energy spent, and cried over her loss.

But again from behind her came a warm presence who first gently touched her shoulder then enveloped her in a loving embrace. She took in the feeling, and her tears dried. But just as she started to wonder who it was that was holding her, just before she turned around, the dream was over and she woke in her bed.

---

Walking home from school, Numbuh Five heard hurried footsteps behind her, which slowed to keep pace with her once they were within reach.

She didn't turn around. She had an idea who it was.

"Abby," Maurice said.

She was right. "Yeah?" she replied without turning to face him.

"Abby, I need your advice. I don't know if I can do this anymore."

"Do what?" she asked in an even voice.

"This. Abby—" he reached out to take her hand, but she pulled it away. She did, however, finally turn to face him. Her expression was almost stern.

"You never used to call me Abby. Now you call me nothing but."

He stared at her, thrown off by this statement. "I…" he searched for the words, suddenly clumsy now that he was met by her unyielding countenance and strange comments. "I hate pretending to date Cree," he finally said.

"You're not pretending to date her. You are dating her. The only thing open to question is how you feel about her."

This wasn't going the way he had hoped it would at all. _Why is Abby being so cold?_

"You don't actually think that I like—"

"I'm just laying it out straight. You go out together. You hug, you kiss, you hold hands. You're dating. There's nothing pretend about that."

"Why are you suddenly so interested in stating the facts?"

"You're the one who brought it up."

"I brought it up because I hate it." He couldn't hide the bitterness or even the anger in his voice. But by then he couldn't tell if he was angry at his situation, or if he was angry at Abby.

"Then quit."

"Quit…?" It took him a while before he absorbed the word. For a moment—a brief one—he thought of how things might be if he did leave. But his loyalty had been to the Kids Next Door Organization for most of his life. _ I can't leave now, not after everything. What would I do? _He wasn't like Chad, who had ten million clubs and sports teams and everything. The Kids Next Door was his life. All his friends were operatives. It was hard enough when he turned thirteen and he thought he was going to lose everything. He couldn't go through that again. If he left now, he'd be really decommissioned this time, and he'd have nothing.

"No, I can't do that. I can't quit." He no longer sounded angry, just dejected.

"Then what do you want me to say?"

"I want…." He moved closer to her. "I want you to say that you--"

"_What's going on here!" _

They both turned to see Cree rushing at Abby, looking furious, her battle armor folding on.

---

Hovering several feet above the ground, Chad aimed his laser at Numbuh One's bald, shiny head. That cue ball made such a clear target. But before he could fire, mustard splattered and gummed up his weapon. He frowned and shook off as much of the stuff as possible. The smell reminded him that he hadn't gotten the chance to eat lunch that day. In fact, this whole battle was impromptu—he had to miss drama club because of this, and would probably miss his violin lesson as well. Fighting the stupid Kids Next Door was getting really inconvenient.

Chad wasn't even sure why the battle started. He was just leaving History class when Cree contacted him, demanding he provide backup immediately. He didn't even get a chance to unload his textbooks, and they were weighing him down. Well, at least that would be his excuse for his lackluster performance that day.

He tried to fire his wrist laser again, but all it did was short circuit and let off sparks. _Stupid mustard…._ He flew up higher to get out of range of the KND's weapons. From there he observed the battle. It didn't look so good for their team. Maurice was doing a lousy job attacking the others. For someone who was supposed to be an asset to the team, he sure was useless.

He suddenly caught a glimpse of Numbuh Four aiming something at him from the corner of his eye, and he quickly dodged it. _Brat,_ Chad thought to himself, pointing his laser at him. He remembered it was busted right before he fired. But it was okay, because when he looked down again, the Austrailian squirt had already been knocked over by Cree and was out of the battle, along with most of his other teammates. She really was the best fighter out there.

And so it seemed like it was going to be another showdown between Cree and Numbuh Five. All the battles with Sector V seemed to end that way.

They were arguing loudly and angrily, though Chad couldn't make out the words. He drifted closer to eavesdrop, and thought he caught the word "boyfriend." Chad frowned. Were they fighting over Maurice?

The sisters were in a sort of deadlock, and their argument continued in a much lower tone. Chad could no longer understand their words. But then Cree suddenly flung her sister away and fired up her jet boots.

"We're out of here," came Cree's distorted voice through her facemask. She hovered a moment, staring at her sister, before soaring forward to grab her boyfriend and making a retreat.

Chad shrugged and followed.

They regrouped at a predetermined destination, a lightly wooded area with a small clearing. Cree alighted, putting down Maurice, and walked to a nearby tree, her armor folding off.

"So what the hell was that?" Chad asked.

"Just shut up, will you?" Cree snapped.

Chad frowned at her ornery behavior. If anyone should be complaining, it should be him. "I had plans for this afternoon, you know. Maybe next time you should tell me what the battle's for, because if it's just sibling rivalry over—"

"I said _shut up!"_ she turned to yell at him then immediately balled up and crumpled to the ground, sobbing.

Chad and Maurice stood stunned at a distance and watched her cry. Then Maurice looked away, shifted his weight for several seconds then turned to leave.

Chad grabbed him by the arm. "What are you doing? Go and talk to her," he hissed.

"She wants to be left alone." He pulled his arm free and walked away.

Chad watched him leave and shook his head. He turned to look at Cree. For several moments he couldn't decide what to do. He was certain she wanted Maurice to comfort her, not him. But he couldn't just leave….

He approached her slowly, and then sat down a little distance away. He saw her peer in his direction and identify him--her disappointment was noticeable.

For a while they just sat there on the slightly damp grass, Cree with her head bowed and her knees pulled to her chest, Chad just staring ahead into space. He started to wonder if Maurice was right—maybe she did really want to be alone. He glanced over at her again. She had stopped visibly sobbing, but she occasionally sniffled and wiped her eyes.

Chad furrowed his brow and tried to think of what to do. Finally he asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," she mumbled.

_And she says I need to open up more,_ he thought to himself.

Long seconds ticked by. Finally Cree murmured, "it hurts every time I have to fight Abby."

Chad looked at her, surprised. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

She frowned and continued as if she hadn't heard him. "We used to be so close. When Mom left to take that job in Paris, Abby was only five years old. Dad had work, the nanny cooked and cleaned, but she was useless when it came to kids, so I was the one raising her. She was so adorable…and so smart and mature for her age. She still is now." Cree smiled, her face shining with pride, her head no longer bowed. "It was that same year that Mom left that I joined the Kids Next Door. I learned a lot from them, and everything I learned I taught to Abby. She thought the Kids Next Door was the coolest thing ever…I did too, actually. She looked up to me, she said she wanted to be just like me, and she wanted to be an operative, too." She suddenly turned to face Chad. "Did you know that she was the youngest operative ever to be inducted into KND?"

He shook his head, knowing full well that she wasn't waiting for his answer.

Cree focused her eyes on the clump of trees at the far end of the clearing, but her mind was far away. "The years that we were in Sector V together were probably the happiest of my life. Back in those days Sector V was indisputably the best team in the organization. And for almost five years, even though I hardly ever got to see Maman, I couldn't even imagine a better life." Her expression turned from joy to dejection when she continued. "But then my thirteenth birthday was coming up. I knew the rules, but I went to the supreme commander anyways and requested to stay longer, just until Abby turned thirteen, and then we'd leave together without a fuss. Just a few more years, that's all I asked for. He said no, of course. So then I said, 'fine, I'll leave the Kids Next Door when I turn thirteen, but please, don't decommission me.' My memories of the years spent with Abby as an operative were too precious to me, I couldn't just give them up! It wasn't so much to ask for, was it? Again, he said no. He even had the nerve to tell me that everything would be okay—can you believe that?"

Chad once again knew the question was rhetorical.

"So there was no other choice. If I wanted to keep my memories, I had to run. The night before my birthday, I talked to Abby. I said we could leave together, right then, and then we'd never have to worry about having out memories erased, and that we'd always be together on the same team. But…," Cree's voice became ragged and fierce, "she chose to stay! She chose the Kids Next Door over her own sister! How could she? After everything we'd been through together, after all I'd done for her? It was all those stupid Kids Next Door's fault, they stole my sister from me! I'll never, ever forgive them!"

The clearing seemed painfully quiet after her tirade. Chad stared at the same clump of trees as she. He didn't know what to say, but the silence was unbearable.

"Well, your reason for hating the Kids Next Door is sure better than mine." He took at quick peek at her. She wasn't looking at him _(good)_ but she was crying again _(bad)._ What could he do to make her feel better? Tell her that he was sure that Abby still loved her? Would Cree believe that, coming from him, who hardly knew her sister? Or would that just annoy her?

_If I were her boyfriend, I'd put my arms around her…._

But he wasn't. He was just a friend, and he didn't know what to do.

After another span of silence his stomach growled, and Chad suddenly remembered his uneaten lunch. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a sad-looking bologna sandwich. He frowned at it for a moment then removed one half from the plastic bag and edged closer to Cree to tap her on the arm. When she turned, he held it out to her.

"No thanks," she refused.

"Take it," he insisted, shaking it at her in an annoying manner.

She glanced at it in aggravation, but accepted it as a means to stop his pestering.

He took the other half from the wrapping and began to eat it.

Cree looked down at the mangled sandwich in her hands. Room temperature bologna on white. Yum. Still, she was hungry. She took a bite and immediately grimaced at the taste of too much mayonnaise. She squeezed as much of it out of the sandwich as she could, wiping off the excess sandwich spread with her finger, which left her with the problem of mayo-fingers. Not wanting to wipe off her hands on her shirt, she attempted to flick away the unwanted sludge.

"What are you doing?" Chad inquired in a baffled tone.

"There's too much mayo."

"Ugh, you're one of those," he grumbled, but when she looked at him he was wearing a tentative smile. He held out a napkin.

She took it, and wiping off her fingers, asked, "How can you eat that when it's swimming in all that grease?" She took another bite.

"Mayo's good for you. It builds character."

"If by 'character' you mean 'love handles,' then I guess you're right," she replied with a small smirk.

"Mayoist," Chad scoffed.

"What did you call me?"

"You heard me—you're unfairly prejudiced against mayonnaise."

"Clearly you're insane," Cree laughed, shaking her head at the weirdness of their conversation. Maybe it was the rise in her blood sugar level, or maybe the nitrates in the lunchmeat had addled her brain, but she was feeling better.

---  
---

author's notes: yeah, i got lazy and left out most of the battle stuff. but here's what happened: Cree attacked Abby, and then Maurice called Sector V to provide backup (anonymously, of course, since they don't know he's still on their side). when Sector V showed up, Cree called Chad, and that's where they were when i decided to start writing again. :P

also, thanks to Zepuka, for pointing out my bologna misspelling. now i'm going to have that Oscar Mayer song stuck in my head until the end of time!


	13. guilt

Abby entered her house after school and walked into the kitchen to see her older sister making herself a sandwich.

She glanced at it. "I thought you hated bologna."

"It's not so bad as long as you don't put too much mayo on it," Cree replied with a private smile.

"If you say so. Listen--I'm headed out but I should be back for dinner. Let Dad know in case he gets home before me, will you?"

"All right. So what's up, you got a _big mission?"_ she teased.

Abby left without replying, and Cree settled in at the kitchen table to eat her sandwich. She really couldn't explain her change of opinion of bologna sandwiches, but ever since she shared that one with--

"Hi, Cree."

She whipped around to see Maurice entering from the living room, and she felt her cheeks redden guiltily. She swallowed hard and felt a strange impulse to hide the sandwich. _But why?_ she asked herself. _It's not as if I'm doing anything wrong..._

"Hi, Honey," she said in a voice that she hoped didn't sound strained.

"Your front door was unlocked, so I let myself in. Hope you don't mind. Hey--is that a sandwich? I'm starving." He sat down next to her.

"Oh...yeah. Do you want half?" She reluctantly handed him her untouched portion.

"Thanks." He bit into it.

Cree stared at her half, suddenly feeling uncomfortable eating in front of her boyfriend.

"You know, I never really was a fan of bologna," Maurice commented, peering between the slices of bread.

Cree turned to glower at him. "Well, if you don't like it--" she began angrily before stopping herself. _What am I doing? Yelling at my boyfriend because he insulted lunchmeat?_

Maurice was looking at her puzzledly.

"I'm sorry," she attempted to laugh. "I don't know where my brain's at. Here," she said, depositing the unfinished half of her sandwich in front of him, "I'm not that hungry after all."

She jumped at the sound of knocking at the kitchen door and looked up to see Chad.

"Oh! Chad! All these people coming to see me all at once!"

"Well, if you think two people--" started Chad as Cree steered him through the kitchen into the living room.

"Maurice is eating, let's not disturb him! Actually, I'm glad you're here, I was hoping you'd look at my computer for me, when I tried to start it today it wouldn't boot up, the apple logo didn't even show, there was just a circle with a line through it like it was saying 'no icon for you!' and then it started making these noises like an airplane taking off…" she prattled as she ushered Chad upstairs.

Once in her room Cree walked over to her computer and turned it on. They stared at it in silence as it started up, Cree wishing that she had talked slower earlier, so she'd have something to say now.

"So…when does it start messing up?" asked Chad.

"Any second now," answered Cree, inwardly praying that her computer wouldn't suddenly fix itself, making her look like a liar. Or worse, like someone who just made up an excuse to get a boy up in her room. She felt her cheeks grow hot. _But I didn't make it up, _she thought to herself. _And Chad's just a friend…._

Less than a minute later, the pale gray screen showed a circle with a line through it, as she had reported earlier.

"There! See!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

"I've never seen someone so happy to see their computer crap out."

"Well, it's not that I'm happy, it's just that…. Wait--hear that? Airplane noises!"

"Yeah, I hear it." He looked like he was trying not to laugh at her.

"So what's wrong with it?"

"Not sure. I've got DiskWarrior at home, I'll go get it."

"What? You're going home?"

"I don't carry disk repair utilities on me at all times," he said with an expression that was both amused and questioned her sanity at the same time. "I'll be right back."

Once Chad had left, Cree returned to the kitchen, where Maurice hadn't made much progress on the sandwich.

"Hi, Baby, how are you doing? Are you thirsty? Do you want some water? Or maybe some juice? I think we have grape." She looked into the fridge. "Yes, we do. Here you go, a glass of juice for my Honey." She put down the glass, kissed him on the forehead, and left the room again.

Maurice stared at the juice. "Thanks…?"

---

Chad returned while Maurice was still eating at the table. Of course, Chad had been walking quickly, while Maurice had been eating slowly.

Chad entered the kitchen, glanced at the other then continued on his way. The two of them didn't usually bother with greetings.

"Wait, Chad."

He paused.

"Is Cree acting…strange?"

_Yes, _thought Chad to himself, but aloud he said, "I haven't noticed anything." Then he pushed through the door to the living room.

---

Chad stared at the computer monitor as Cree peered over his shoulder.

"Everything seems to be fine," he said, ejecting a disc from the machine, "but I'll restart just in case."

"Really? Thanks! So what was wrong with it?"

"Apparently nothing significant. I just zapped the PRAM and then everything worked fine."

Cree snickered a little.

"What?" Chad asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. It's just that sometimes I think you play football just to cover up the fact that you're a giant geek."

"Thanks. Next time your computer won't boot and starts making 'airplane noises' you're on your own." He vacated her chair and headed for the door.

Cree grinned at him, knowing not to take his orneriness too seriously. _He's actually strangely endearing when he's grouchy. _In a sudden impulse, she grabbed him from behind in a surprise hug. Though from the force and angle of it, it may have seemed more like a wrestling move.

Chad stiffened initially then made an attempt to shake her off, but his struggles against her were surprisingly weak. Cree peered around to look at his face; he seemed to be in some kind of stunned daze.

She laughed at him and loosened her grasp, which seemed to bring him around a little. He looked at her quizzically.

"Cree…?"

"Huh?" She released him and walked around to face him.

"Uh…." He still appeared disorientated. "I was wondering…what if someone…gave you something. A present. Something worth a lot, but you didn't really want it. What would you do?"

It was Cree's turn to be baffled. "I don't know, I guess I'd re-gift it."

He frowned at the answer. "No, you can't do that. It's not a re-giftable gift."

"Well you're going to have to be a little more specific. What kind of gift?"

Chad seemed to cast around for the answer. "I don't know, something…expensive."

"Like a diamond tiara?"

He shook his head, thinking. "No…something…something like an endangered species. What if someone gave you an endangered animal? Like a sea turtle or something. What would you do?"

Cree laughed in an incredulous manner. "As a pet?"

"Uh…sure."

"How about a panda?" she asked, brightening.

"No," he replied irritably. "A turtle."

She considered. "I'm not a huge fan of turtles. I wouldn't know where to keep it."

"You could get a tank or someth--. Wait. We're getting sidetracked. What would you do if someone gave you a turtle?"

"This is a really weird question." She smirked. "You aren't planning on giving me a turtle, are you?"

"No…I was just curious." He looked kind of disappointed.

Cree's smile faded slightly at his expression.

"It's just one of those things, you know? Those 'what if' questions," he added hastily. "I like to wonder about these things. Like, 'what would I do if I had another arm growing out of the top of my head?'"

She laughed. "Well that one's easy, you'd have an excellent future as a circus freak." She watched him bemusedly. "You're weird, you know that?"

He chuckled weakly. "Yeah, that's me, Mr. Weird."

Cree smiled at him and he met her eyes briefly before looking away. He walked out the door of her bedroom and she followed him. "Anyways, what I want to know is how you can jerry-rig a 2x4 tech food processor fuel drive and still not know how to zap the PRAM on your computer."

"2x4 technology is easy. 'When in doubt, add mustard'. It's not exactly rocket science."

"Actually," Chad countered, "in a lot of cases, it is."

They headed down the stairs together.

"Well, sure, if you want to be literal--"

Cree stopped suddenly. In the living room were Abby and Maurice. They were talking in low voices, unaware of the other two.

"Abby! I can't believe…!" Cree's eyes flashed angrily as she stalked towards them.

"Cree." Chad reached forward to touch her shoulder.

"What?" she snarled, turning on him.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "They're just talking."

"Oh, so now you can read lips?"

"No…it's just…well, you said yourself that whenever you have a fight with Abby…." He trailed off uncomfortably.

Cree's expression softened as he spoke; her anger diffused. She directed her gaze back at her sister and her boyfriend, but when she spoke, it was to Chad. "You're right. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Why do you never yell at--. I mean, why do you always blame--" He stopped and was silent.

Cree tore her eyes from Abby and Maurice to look questioningly at Chad. "What?"

"I…. Never mind."

Her eyes returned to the other two as they talked. It was true; they did seem to be just talking. They weren't smiling or laughing or doing any of the other things that might lead one to think they were flirting. _But what is it about their expressions that bothers me so much?_

"I don't know why I get so jealous whenever I see the two of them together. I mean--Maurice is _my_ boyfriend, not hers."

"Last I checked," Chad said softly.

She turned again to him. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I don't know. For being there."

The smile on his lips didn't match his eyes. "We're friends, right?"

---  
---

author's notes: ah, Cree, so confused.

DiskWarrior (c) Alsoft


	14. Hypothetical Turtle

author's notes: this is just an extra chapter i wrote because you guys seemed to be baffled by the whole turtle thing in the last chapter. thanks for your reviews, everyone, and i hope you enjoy this!

---  
---

Chad checked his watch before slamming his locker door shut. The hallways were quickly emptying; classes were over for the day, and he had already told Coach Wetterhan that he'd be missing practice that afternoon. Cree had called a Teen Meeting after school, and Chad hoped that maybe if he hurried, he'd be able to walk to her house with her.

He slammed the locker shut.

"Hi, Chad."

He jumped slightly and turned to see Cree. How long had she been standing on the other side of his locker door?

She laughed. "Did I scare you?"

"No…well, sort of," he admitted. "Actually, I was just thinking about going to find you."

"Mission accomplished. What were you going to do next?"

"Um, ask you if you wanted to walk home together," he said, attempting to sound offhanded.

"I was just about to suggest that myself."

He smiled at her—_But not too much!_ his brain warned—as he shouldered his backpack. The twenty pounds of textbooks felt much lighter than usual.

A few steps out of the school, Cree said, "Oh! Before I forget—here." She handed him a small, decorated gift bag.

He took it and stared. "What's this?"

"Think of it as a late birthday present."

"My birthday's in three weeks."

"Oh…I knew that…I meant--think of it as an early birthday present," she grinned embarrassedly.

He stared at the bag. It felt silly accepting presents from Cree. "Thanks," he said, feeling his face grow red. He held it in front of him as if it were something very precious, fragile, and possibly dangerous.

"Well? Open it!"

"Oh—right." Chad rooted around inside the bag and felt something fuzzy within the folds of tissue paper, grasped it, and pulled it out. He stared at it inquiringly. It was a small, stuffed turtle.

"Huh…thank you," he said, smiling to hide his confusion.

"When I saw it the other day, it reminded me of you." She beamed at him.

"Because…I live in a shell?" he asked slowly.

"No," she slapped his arm in mock reproach, "because of that discussion we had. You know, the one about turtles." She watched him expectantly.

Chad stared at her for a full three seconds before the penny dropped. "Oh…_that_ turtle." He looked at the plush toy in his hand. He didn't know whether to laugh…or kiss her. He laughed. "Thank you. He's really cute."

"And look, he's got a name." She pointed to the tag. "Speedy."

"Of course," he said, but he was gazing at her and not the tag.

When Cree looked up at him he turned his head and laughed again.

"And…?" she asked pointedly.

"And what?"

"Where's my turtle?" she demanded.

"I…there is no turtle. There was never any turtle. It was hypothetical."

She pouted skeptically at him. "Then…what was that whole conversation about, anyways?"

"I told you; it was a what-if question."

"What kind of hypothetical question is that? 'What would you do if I gave you a turtle?' And here I was expecting a live reptile…."

"I never said that," he denied, trying to hide his mirth. "The turtle was only an example; the real question was what if I gave you—" He stopped suddenly, his face turning pink.

"What? What if you gave me what?"

"Nothing. It was a silly question anyways."

Cree frowned at him. "Don't make me beat it out of you."

"Nothing doing," he said, smiling up at the sky. "I'm taking it to my grave."

She glared for a moment, as if considering her next move. Finally she said, "You're no fun. Gimme my turtle back."

She grabbed for it, but Chad held it up high.

"No way. You gave it to me, it's mine."

"Meanie." She scowled.

Chad dangled the turtle tauntingly over Cree's head, knowing full well that she could easily kick him in the stomach and take it from him. He felt ridiculously happy.

---  
---

author's notes: what? you didn't think i'd actually explain what Chad meant, did you? XD Cree's still confused, but unlike her, you can go back and re-read the last chapter. if you're still baffled, i'd recommend reading the part right before the turtle is even mentioned.  
and by the way, this chapter's title was inspired by Alan Moore's Hypothetical Lizard. only the title, mind you, not at all the story!


	15. relapse

author's notes: sorrry it's been so long since an update, i blame life!

---  
---

Cree and Chad walked to the Lincoln residence together after school for another one of their scheduled Teen Meetings. It was becoming a regular thing. They chatted as they walked; defeating the Kids Next Door was far from their minds.

"Marty was practically snoring," Cree recounted a highlight of the day to Chad, "And Mr. Miller was all like, 'having a good nap, Marty?' and he didn't even hear him!"

Chad laughed. "You're kidding. So what did he do?"

"He threw a chalkboard eraser at him! He got Marty right on the head--he was so surprised he almost fell out of his seat!"

"Remind me never to fall asleep in Mr. Miller's class."

"I know, right? One time--" She stopped suddenly as they neared the house.

Maurice was standing at the front door. "There you are. I guess I beat you this time."

"Is it that late already? Sorry, Honey, we must have been walking slow." She broke away from Chad to give her boyfriend a kiss.

Chad looked away from the couple, trying to convince himself that he wasn't bothered by this display. _Cree and I are friends. I'm happy as just her friend. I'm glad that we can just hang out and talk. I don't wish that I could put my arms around her and pull her close to me; I don't—_

"Chad?"

He turned.

"Aren't you coming in?" Cree asked.

"Right, yeah."

The meeting was business as usual, but Chad found he had trouble concentrating. He kept counting the number of times he saw Cree smile at Maurice, and every time she touched his arm, or even met his eyes.

He set his gaze on the wallpaper to stop himself from staring. _What's wrong with me? I was doing so well. I got by for weeks without feeling like this. Seeing her with that—_

His train of thought was cut off when something solid bumped against his forehead. His head snapped around to see Cree laughing at him. Rubbing his head, he looked at the floor to see a bread roll straggle away.

"What was that for?" he demanded in annoyance.

"I didn't have any chalkboard erasers handy," she snickered in reply.

"I wasn't sleeping."

"Yeah, but you weren't paying attention, either."

"And that bread roll is way harder than a chalkboard eraser," he grumbled, trying not to be affected by the smiling face that was now focused on him. It couldn't be normal to feel that much joy just from someone just smiling at you.

_I wish she were mine._

And that's when he felt it again, that feeling that he thought he had kept in check all this time, the pain that he hoped he would never feel again, that horrible tearing, burning in his chest. _Why? Why now?_

Cree had stopped laughing. "Chad? Are you all right?"

"Yeah…no, I think maybe some flour or something got in my eye." He stood.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you need—"

"I'm just going to go wash my face." He left the room.

---

Cree had stopped talking once Chad had left the kitchen. Maurice looked at her; she was staring concernedly at the door through which Chad had exited. Then she glanced in Maurice's direction and quickly looked away again. Which was odd, as it was something that he would do, not her.

He cleared his throat. "Um, so, Cree, what are we trying to accomplish by infiltrating a Treehouse?"

"Huh? Oh—um, you know, information on the enemy. What kind of soda do they drink, what rainbow monkeys are popular now, what they like and don't like."

"What's the use of that?"

"It's just enemy recon. From what we find out—"

She stopped when the door opened again, but it was Abby and not Chad who entered the room.

"Hi, Sis," Cree greeted her sister as she covered the plans, but then was silent.

"Hey," she replied, walking to the refrigerator. As she did so, her foot hit the bread roll, still on the ground. She stared at it. "Had a food fight or something?"

Cree didn't reply, but Maurice answered, "Cree threw it at Chad." He then stopped, realizing he shouldn't talk so freely to Abby, not in front of Cree.

Both Lincoln sisters stared at him. Cree appeared annoyed, but Abby was almost inquisitive.

"What? Well, you did," reasoned Maurice as Cree frowned at him.

She stood suddenly and headed for the door. "Don't let Abby see those plans," she warned as she passed behind Maurice.

The remaining two listened to her retreating footsteps.

Abby glanced at the face-down papers on the table. "So what's up?"

"I'll fill you in later." He kept an eye on the door. "It's a little unusual, isn't it? That Cree would leave the two of us—" He stopped abruptly when he noticed that Abby had slid into her sister's chair beside him.

"Maurice," she said with her head lowered. Her eyes were hidden under the brim of her hat. "I need to talk to you."

---

Cree knocked on the bathroom door. "Chad? Are you okay? I have eye drops if you need them."

There was a pause before she heard his voice coming from the other side of the door. "That's okay, I think I'm okay now. Thanks." His voice sounded oddly flat.

"Okay, good. I'm glad. So…why don't you come out?"

There was another delay in his reply. "I…think I'll rinse my face off one more time."

"Are you sure you don't want the eye drops?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't come in."

Cree listened to the sound of running water through the door. He seemed to be doing a rather thorough job of washing, judging from the duration and all the splashing around. Then the water stopped, and there was silence for a minute. Then two.

"Chad?"

"Just a sec."

Finally the door opened and Chad emerged. He turned out the bathroom light immediately and headed back towards the kitchen.

"Hold up," Cree called.

He stopped and turned to her, but immediately bent his head down, scratching his forehead. "You didn't have to wait for me."

"I know; I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'm sorry I threw that bread at you, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's okay, it might not even have been the bread; my eyes were just stinging, is all." He still hadn't put down his hand.

"Let me see them, I want to make sure they're all right."

"Stop worrying about it, I'm fine."

But Cree wasn't listening—she firmly pulled his hand away from his face, and when he turned to avoid her, she grasped him by the chin and held his head in place while she examined his eyes.

This didn't last for more than a second before Chad yanked his head out of her grip and moved away, muttering, "I told you I was fine."

"Hm, your eyes do look kind of red…."

"Yeah, well…some soap got in them when I was washing my face."

"Soap? Why would you need--"

"Shouldn't we be getting back now?"

"Oh—that's right, I left Maurice with Abby, she'd better not be—" Cree entered the kitchen to find her boyfriend there alone.

Maurice looked up at them with a wide smile. "You guys sure took your time. What's the matter, Chad? You look like you've been crying."

"Shut up."

---  
---

author's notes: this was kind of a weird, transitional chapter, sorry about that. but what were Abby and Maurice talking about? answers to come in the next chapter!


	16. transition

Chad had been avoiding Cree since the embarrassing incident at her house the other day. Of course it wasn't a mature thing to do at all, and it wouldn't improve the situation in the slightest bit, but he didn't want to risk having another breakdown in front of her again. And he _really_ didn't want to have that "ripped out heart" feeling again. Fortunately there hadn't been another scheduled meeting since then, so their contact was limited to brief encounters in the hall. He'd been skipping lunch and hiding in the library during lunch hour, and he had enough after school activities that his absence at the end of the day wasn't conspicuous. He'd lie low for a few days, and maybe then he'd be able to hang out with her again. He'd just have to repeat to himself that they were just friends and nothing more and maybe his heart would finally accept it.

Mr. Foss was just finishing giving out the next day's homework assignment when the bell rang. Chad gathered his chemistry books and filed out of the room along with the other students. As he headed towards history, he was distracted by the sound of his name being shouted from down the congested hall. Of course it was Cree. _How does she always know when I want to avoid her?_

She pushed eagerly through the crowd, towards him. "Guess what?" Cree asked with a beaming countenance. She was practically radiating happiness.

Chad observed her with growing dread. Seeing her like this could not conceivably bode well for him. The worst possible answer immediately came to mind. "You're getting married," he uttered in a strangled tone.

She looked at him quizzically. "You dolt," she laughed, "It's Abby--she's joining our team!" She grabbed both his hands and actually bounced with joy.

"Abby…?" He processed her news slowly. So it wasn't something horrible after all. "Oh, wow, that's great." He smiled, but more in relief than actual happiness.

"Isn't it?"

She continued to hold his hands, and Chad couldn't do anything but stare at her flushed, glowing face and feel his heart pounding, the words _"we're just friends"_ far from his mind.

"Anyways, I gotta go, see you later!" She released his hands and raced off.

He stared at his hands. Abby should join their team more often.

---

Abby's addition to the team was different, if nothing else. Until then, Chad's reactions to his teammates were simple: love Cree, hate Maurice. He didn't know what to feel about Abby. She was fresh from KND, hadn't been decommissioned, she wasn't even thirteen yet. What he really wanted to know was _why_ she decided to join the teens. It wasn't such an unusual thing for twelve-year-old operatives, just shy of their thirteenth birthdays, to defect from KND, but he never would have expected Abby to be one of them. He had to admit to himself that he didn't quite trust her.

If he had the guts he would have privately pulled Cree aside and asked her exactly what reasons Abby gave for enlisting, but she was so happy and didn't see beyond the fact that she and her sister were working together again. If he were friends with Maurice he'd discuss it with him, but they couldn't even share small talk without it devolving into a glare fest. For that matter, Maurice's reaction to Abby was puzzling—he completely accepted it. As much as Chad disliked him, he knew that Maurice was no idiot, and it seemed strange that he would have nothing to say about the addition of a former enemy to the team. Could he and Cree have had a discussion on the subject without him? It was possible….

Still, it left only one option if he was going to find out what's really in the former Numbuh Five's head: he would have to confront her himself. And at a time when Cree, or even Maurice was not around.

Though one definite pro to Abby's arrival: Cree spent more time hugging her than she did hugging Maurice these days. A small blessing, but Chad would take what he could get.

---

It was an unseasonably warm afternoon. Maurice sat on the front doorstep of the Lincoln residence and stared lazily up at the sky. For the first time, he was actually enjoying the teen meetings. He used to think Cree scheduled them too frequently—sometimes more than twice a week, but now he found himself impatient for the next one to arrive.

_Since Abby is here on the team, that must mean she approves. It must mean that she thinks I've been doing the right thing, and best of all, that means that she wants to be with me._ That knowledge alone made everything so much more bearable. _Let Cree cuddle, I don't care. As long as I have Abby, Cree can have all the fake kisses she wants._

From the corner of his eye he saw Abby as she approached the house. He stood up, smiling.

"You're here early," she said.

"Not really, it's Cree and Chad who are late."

"Really? I thought Cree got out of school early on Tuesdays."

Maurice shrugged. "These days she waits and walks back with Chad."

"Hm. Anyways, come in." Abby unlocked the door and Maurice followed her inside.

He immediately settled down on the couch and made himself at home; he spent so much time there it almost felt like a second home. "I don't care that she comes back late; that means less time I have to spend with her." He looked at Abby and was a little surprised that she hadn't sat beside him. "Aren't you going to sit?"

"No," she said somewhat distantly, "I'm going to wait in my room until Cree gets here." She headed for the stairs.

Maurice stood and followed her with an easy confidence.

She paused on the stairs, two steps in front of him. "I don't remember sending out an invitation." She said it without even turning around.

He stared at her, his certainty ripped out from under him. "But…I thought…."

"You thought what? That now I'm Covert Kids Next Door, everything would be smiles and rainbows? That I'd just throw myself at you?"

_Something like that,_ Maurice thought to himself, but aloud he mumbled, "No, I just thought now that we're on the same side, we don't have to go around hiding and pretending anymore, not around each other. We can—"

"You're still dating my sister."

"You know that I don't like her."

"She doesn't."

"I know, but that's my job, I have to pretend to like Cree. You know that; you know that I—"

He stopped as he heard the door open behind him. He turned, knowing full well that it would be his "girlfriend." She stood at the threshold, Chad just behind her, looking at him and Abby questioningly. He braced himself for the coming outburst.

Surprisingly, it didn't come. She just looked at them, almost pleasantly, and asked, "You guys ready for the meeting?" and came into the house. Maurice stared in disbelief. He was sure that Abby was doing the same. Even Chad looked mystified.

---

Cree caught herself humming again as she cooked breakfast. She chuckled a little and continued the tune as she cracked eggs into a hot frying pan. She squinted out the window at the bright sky. She couldn't remember the last time it looked so blue.

She laughed at herself. Of course the sky wasn't any bluer than usual. She was happy, that's what the difference was. Her baby sister was hers again. The stupid Kids Next Door would never come between them again, and things would be the way they were back then, when they weren't only sisters but best friends.

But maybe the world was brighter. Even Maurice seemed happier ever since Abby joined their team, and it couldn't just be a coincidence. Maybe somewhere deep inside of him he still remembered their days in Sector V, and he knew that the three of them together as a team was somehow right.

She smiled as she thought of her boyfriend, and decided that she would call him after breakfast.

That only left one downer—Chad. While he had been opening up to her more lately, she could tell that he still was…depressed, for lack of a better word. Sometimes she'd turn to look at him and see such sadness in his eyes. Then he'd immediately look away and try to hide it, but she'd seen it, and it was almost heartbreaking. If only there was a way—

Cree was interrupted from her thoughts when she noticed her sister plod into the room. "Good morning, Abby," she beamed. "I made us some eggs, they'll be ready in a minute. Meanwhile, help yourself to some toast—"

"I don't want any." Abby stared at the table, laid out for breakfast.

"But…I thought you liked sunny-side up. Come on, Abby, it's Saturday, you don't need to rush off anywhere, do you?"

"I'm not hungry." She walked out of the house.

Cree watched her go, and then gazed sadly at the eggs in the pan. Well, that made two downers. Abby and Chad. If only she could find a way to make them happy. Both of them. The way she and Maurice were….

---  
---

author's notes: and that, my friends, is the sound of trouble brewing.


	17. matchmaking

The teens and the honorary teen sat around the kitchen table as Cree talked, referring to a notebook and a few sheets of printed information.

"…and we found that, contrary to what the commercials would have you believe, kids don't actually like those CDs where kids are singing along to current popular songs." She looked up from the pages. "To be honest, I'm a little relieved." She smiled and put down the papers. "And of course we owe all this new information on the enemy to our newest recruit, and my favorite little sister. Great job, Abby."

Cree stood and hugged her sister again, the third time since the meeting started, Chad noted. She had only hugged Maurice once, and of course himself not at all.

Cree then removed her sister's hat and started to fuss over her hair. "Why are you still wearing this old thing, Abby? How is anyone going to see your pretty face if you keep it hidden all the time?"

Abby glared at her sister. "What are you doing?"

"Just stating the obvious," Cree replied blithely. "You're pretty. You think Abby's pretty, don't you, Chad?"

He cringed at being dragged into the sibling argument. "Uh, yeah," he said, glancing at Abby's surly face. _Pretty scary, that is._

"There, see? Chad thinks you're pretty. Of course it would help if you smiled a little."

"Just give me my hat," Abby snarled, snatching it back and affixing it firmly on her head once again.

---

Cree sat at her desk late at night, staring at the papers before her. She had just finished her homework, and she wanted nothing more than to go to bed. But it had been so long since the team had been on a mission, they really were overdue for something big. _Something that'll really make those Brats Next Door…._

She yawned loudly. To be honest, ever since Abby had joined the team, she didn't feel much like fighting the KND anymore. She had everything she wanted--her sister, her boyfriend, and her best friend, all of them together. Things were actually going well for her for a change…almost a little too well. That's what the problem was; she was worried that it wouldn't last. And if they stopped fighting the Kids Next Door, what would hold them together?

Which brought her back to the problem at hand: another mission. She glanced over the list that Abby had helped her compile. Yipper Cards had been done. Rainbow Monkeys had been done (in fact, their only quasi-successful mission, in spite of the fact that it didn't quite go as planned). What else was there? She didn't want to mess with fast food joints or amusement parks; too many teens frequented those. Then her eyes settled on something, and she circled it in red: Chewy Pellets.

Cree pushed back from the desk and stood, stretching. It was a start, anyways, she'd think about it more in the morning. She staggered the few steps to her bed and flopped onto it then wriggled her way under the covers. She turned off the lights with a sigh. _Do we really have to keep fighting the Kids Next Door just so we can stay together?_ Sure, Abby was her sister, but it seemed that the only time they spent together was during scheduled meetings. Chad she would see at school, but without their common enemy, there would be no excuse for them to walk home together, and it really was during those times that she felt the closest to him, when it was just the two of them together. She frowned and shifted in bed. If she kept thinking like this, she'd never get to sleep. At least she had Maurice.

As she drifted off to sleep, a thought formed in her mind—_if Abby and Chad were a couple, that would hold the four of us together. Then we'd be connected in so many ways, Abby and I are sisters, Chad and I are friends, Maurice and I are dating, Abby and Maurice are friends even if Maurice doesn't remember it. If Abby and Chad were dating too, that would seal the deal. Sure, Maurice and Chad don't get along, but that would probably change in time…._

That night, she dreamt the four of them were stuck in a vat of melted Chewy Pellets.

"It's not my fault!" she screamed.

---

Nightmares aside, Cree was more determined than ever to get her little sister and her best friend together. They'd make a good match, she knew they would, she just had to convince them to see it her way. It really shouldn't be a problem; it would just take a little bit of finagling….

---

"Chewy pellets," Abby muttered as the four of them entered the manufacturing plant from a skylight on the roof. Maurice turned to look at her, and maybe even smiled a little, but it was dark so she couldn't really be sure. She was fairly certain he was still mad at her, but not more mad than she was at him.

The place was large and not as clean as one would hope a food product producer would be. They walked in silence past the tangled rows of conveyor belts and the over-sized drying ovens, then past the large, steel open drums. The whole place had the sickly sweet smell of caramel.

Cree's plan was not to destroy the plant, but to alter the ingredients of the candies. She and Chad had come up with a colorless, flavorless compound that would increase the stickiness of the chewy pellets by 488 percent.

"That ought to keeps those brats' mouths shut," she had laughed when she revealed the plan.

It wasn't a bad plan, actually. And its simplicity seemed to make it foolproof. Chad's research revealed that quality control at Perfect Pellets, Incorporated (makers not only of Chewy Pellets, but of Crunchy Pellets and Puffy Pellets) was lax. Any problems with their product wouldn't be found until the candies hit the shelves. All they needed to do was sneak in, add the compound to the sugar supply, and bingo, instant jaw sealant. Abby and Maurice (in an awkward and rather terse private meeting) had decided that it didn't require the assistance of the other Kids Next Door, and that they would handle the situation by themselves.

It was odd, however, that Cree insisted that the whole team come on the mission, considering that the job of 'pour powder into powder' seemed like one easily handled by two people. Even still, no one questioned it.

They arrived in a large storage facility filled with giant sacks labeled "Sugar".

"Okay, this is it, guys. Take this, Maurice," Cree said as she handed him a small sack, "and put about a cup of it into several different sugar sacks. They've got to be used sooner or later. I'll keep a lookout." He nodded, and she kissed him on the cheek before he left.

"What about us? Why are we even here?" Abby asked irritably.

"You guys come with me, there's something else I need you two to do." She backtracked to the hallway and peered into one door after another. Most of them were dark offices. Finally she seemed to find what she was looking for.

"Okay, in here, both of you. Wait here until Maurice and I are done, and then we'll come get you. It'll be…I don't know…at least seven minutes." She shoved the two of them in and slammed the door shut behind them.

---

Chad's initial reaction after being thrust into a dark room was to turn and grab for the doorknob to try to break out.

"It's locked," he informed Abby, who he could sense but couldn't see.

He heard her quietly mutter the words "fool" and "what's she trying to do?" He was uncertain whether the first word was referring to himself.

He felt some relief when a small light illuminated, and he turned to see Abby holding a small LED flashlight. He looked around the room, now bathed in a dim, blue glow. They were in some sort of supply closet. He looked at Abby and their eyes met. He subconsciously reached for the doorknob behind him, trying to turn it once again without success.

It was then that he realized that he was terrified of her.

---

Cree listened at the door with an impish grin.

"What's up?" came a voice from behind her, and she started and turned, smiling somewhat guiltily.

"Shh!" she quieted Maurice, and then moved a few steps away from the door. "That was fast," she said, looking at her watch. "Not even four minutes."

"I'm a fast worker. So where's Abby? And Chad?"

The puckish expression returned to her face. "They're in there." She pointed to the closet door.

Maurice stared at the door. "Why?"

"I put 'em in there. It's been over four minutes now. So d'you think they're making out?"

"_What!"_

---

Chad cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It's really dusty in here," he murmured, standing with his back pressed against the door.

Abby stood at the other end of the closet, staring off to the side with a stern countenance.

Chad couldn't remember the last time he had seen anyone looking that pissed off. Maybe that time when he was four and spilled grape juice on the carpet, but back then his mom was more livid than silently seething. His hand went for the doorknob again, and quite suddenly the door gave way behind him and he fell backwards into the hall. But not on the floor.

"Get offa me!" yelled Maurice, who had unwillingly broken Chad's fall. He made up for it by roughly shoving him aside.

Chad was too relieved to be out of his temporary prison to protest.

Abby emerged from the closet calmly, though her forbidding face spoke volumes. She walked by Cree and said in a tone low enough that only she could hear, _"Never try that again."_

---  
---

author's notes: Cree's matchmaking skills leave something to be desired. but really, that's best for all involved. not that she's going to stop trying….

anyways, Brother to Vorlons pointed out that there hasn't been too much anti-kid activity lately, and it's true. i wanted to address that, because it was sort of done on purpose—Cree is becoming less interested in fighting the KND. but I did have the Chewy Pellet idea in my head, so i figured i'd use it. why not, right?


	18. backfire

_So the Seven Minutes in Heaven plan didn't work out_. Cree frowned. _Well, it was worth a shot._ She didn't doubt that the problem was Abby. She loved her sister, of course, but she knew how stubborn Abby could be sometimes, even when Cree tried to do things for her little sister's own good. 

The problem was that Abby didn't see Chad as boyfriend material. When she looked at him all she saw was a teammate, maybe a football player, maybe even an overachiever. What Cree needed to do was make Abby see Chad as he really was—a sweet guy who was shyer than one would expect, and a really good friend.

_There's always a Plan B…._ she thought as a smirk spread on her face.

---

"You know what?" Cree said suddenly in the middle of a meeting. "The four of us should just go out and have fun. We just had a really successful mission, and it's just a matter of days before Chewy Pellets across the country start gluing kids' mouths shut." She laughed with devious glee. "So what say we all go to Dangerland this weekend? I hear the new roller coaster is sure to turn even the sturdiest of stomachs!"

She was met with stares of varying degrees of confusion and sullenness.

Cree noticed Chad's eyes dart from her to Abby then Maurice and back to her. "Sure, okay, why not?" he mumbled.

Cree beamed at him and he immediately broke eye contact.

"Count me out." Abby pulled her hat firmly over her eyes, something she always did when she was being particularly difficult.

"Oh, come on, Abby, it's gotta be all or none."

"Then I guess it's gonna be none."

Cree sighed in aggravation, but continued in a pleasant tone. "Then what would you like to do, Abby? We don't have to go to Dangerland; we could just all go out for ice cream or something, or maybe see a movie. How about that?"

"What I would like is for you to stop treating me like a baby." She stood and headed for the door.

"Then maybe you should stop acting like one!" Cree shouted after her. Both Chad and Maurice were eyeing her uncomfortably. "What are you two looking at?" she snapped. "Meeting's adjourned."

---

_Plan C…._

"Hi, Chad," Cree greeted when she found him at his locker, loading books into his backpack.

"Hey," he said with a smile. Then he paused and looked at her in confusion. "We don't have a meeting today, do we?"

"No, I just wanted to walk with you a little."

"Oh, okay." He seemed to be watching her very carefully out of the corner of his eye as he put the last book into his bag and slammed his locker shut.

"So how were classes today?" she asked as they left the building together.

"Same old. Though in Chem—"

"You know what?" she interrupted artlessly, "you seem like a creature of habit."

Chad paused at the change in subject. "Do I?"

"I bet you wake up the same time every morning, even Saturdays."

He frowned as if perplexed or even suspicious. "I kind of have to. Besides, if I slept in on weekends, that'd make it that much harder to wake up on Mondays."

"I bet it's some freakishly early hour, too." She grinned slyly.

"6:00 isn't that early," he said defensively.

"Waking up at 6:00 on a weekend? I'm sorry, Chad, but that's freakish."

His only reply was silent grumpiness.

She nudged his arm, her smile widening. "I bet you have a set bedtime, too. What is it? 10:00?"

"I'm not twelve."

"11:00?"

Silence again.

"I bet it's 11:00." She chuckled, clapped her hands together and rubbed them together in a rather deranged fashion.

Chad, watching all this, edged slightly away. "Okay, then…my home's this way, so…I'll see you later…." He walked in the direction of his house, leaving Cree behind.

She barely noticed; she only continued to chuckle and rub her hands like some cartoon villain.

---

Abby sighed in aggravation as Cree walked by her room yet again, sticking her nose through the crack of the slightly ajar door. It had to have been at least the tenth time that hour.

"What is it, Cree? Just say what you want, I'm gonna go to bed soon."

"Oh! But not just yet—it's only 11:00," she said hurriedly as she entered Abby's room.

"What are you up to this time?"

"Up to? Nothing! Why would I be-- Well, okay," Cree acknowledged, "I was thinking—do you ever wonder where Mega Mom and Destructo Dad keep their stuff?"

"Chad's parents? Well, not really…."

"They must keep it in the house somewhere, don't you think? You know, the super suits, the flying car, all that stuff."

"I guess so. Why don't you ask Chad?"

Cree shrugged. "He gets weird about these things sometimes. C'mon, haven't you ever wanted a peek at their technology? How do those suits work? And those stupification rays?"

Abby considered with a pensive frown. Knowing the secrets of the Dickson family might prove useful to the Kids Next Door….

"Okay, let's say I am interested. Then what?"

"I say we sneak into their house and snoop around!" Cree exclaimed.

"What? But Chad's part of the team, why don't we just ask him?"

Cree shook her head. "I don't know how he'd react; they're his parents after all. I think it's better that we sneak in without his knowledge and have a look around ourselves. If we can't find anything, then we can ask him."

"I don't know…but if that's what you want to do…."

"Great! Let's go now!"

"What?"

"C'mon!" Cree grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her off.

---

The Lincoln sisters alighted on the Dickson house roof. While Abby still refused to wear a B.R.A. (her being stubborn again) she did have a jetpack that was fairly discreet and served the purpose of transportation just as well.

Cree glanced at her watch. 11:25. Perfect. _This time it'll definitely work,_ she thought to herself and once again had to suppress her desire to cackle maniacally. It was a deceptively simple plan. They would sneak into Chad's house under the pretense of finding his parent's technology. While they were searching, they would 'accidentally' wander into Chad's room to find him sleeping. One look at ickle wee sleeping Chad, and Abby's heart would melt at the adorableness, and before she knew it they'd be dating. _It can't fail!_

"Why are you snickering like that?" Abby asked warily.

"Huh? Oh—nothing." Cree cleared her throat. "I'm just hoping to find their flying car so I can drive around in it," she lied quickly.

"Uh-huh. So how do you think we should get in?"

"Well, I was thinking through the—" She stopped short when she noticed something.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"But that can't be…." The light in Chad's window was on. Or at least she thought that was Chad's window. She looked at her watch again. 11:27. He should be asleep by now.

She drifted down to his windowsill, a puzzled Abby close behind.

_Could it be that his bedtime isn't until midnight…?_ She wondered as she peeked through a crack in his shades. Then she jerked her head back, making a sound that was somewhere between a sharp gasp and a hiccup.

"What? What is it?" Abby demanded, leaning in for a look herself.

"Don't!" Cree whispered sharply, but her sister did anyway.

"What? All I see is Chad buttoning his pajamas. Why are—" She interrupted herself by a loud gasp of her own. "Did you just see naked Chad?"

"Shh! And n-no, he wasn't naked…he was just…mostly naked." She could feel her face glowing bright red

Abby stared at her in a scandalized manner.

"What? The important bits were covered!"

"You. Saw. Naked. Chad."

"He wasn't! And don't say it like that!"

Abby started giggling.

"And it wasn't even for a second!"

The light from the window darkened, and Cree looked at her watch. 11:30.

"Ugh, this mission is officially a bust. Let's go." She flew in the direction of home, trying to ignore her sister who was still chortling the words "Naked Chad."

---

Cree was very thankful that there wasn't a teen meeting the next day. What she needed was to not see Chad for a little while, just long enough to get that image of him wiped from her brain. It was just—she couldn't stop thinking about him.

_Well, really, I'm not thinking about him; I'm thinking about that glimpse of him that I got. It was so quick, I really didn't get that good a look at him. It's just…from that teeny, tiny, peek…he looked hot. Like, mega hot. He couldn't really be that fine. No, it must be my imagination; I really didn't see him clearly enough and now my brain is playing tricks on me._

What she needed…was to get a better look at him.

---

Cree looked at her watch again. 11:23. She returned her eyes to the small crack in the window shade, focusing on Chad who was seated at his desk. _Dammit, Chad, go to bed already._

She shifted uncomfortably on the windowsill where she was perched. She should have come later, but she was impatient and afraid to miss the main event. She should have known better. Chad _was_ a creature of habit.

Just as she was checking her watch again, she heard chuckling behind her. Cree whipped around to see her sister wearing a taunting expression.

"I knew it! When you weren't in your room, I knew you'd be here!"

"It's not what you think!"

"You are so going to hell," Abby snickered.

"What? No, I'm—" She sighed. "At worst I'll be struck blind. But see—ever since yesterday, I…I just need to make sure I saw what I saw."

"What do you mean? Did he have a third arm or something?"

Cree ignored this question and pressed her face to the window again, only to see an empty room. "What? Where is he? He was just—" Then she exhaled in relief as she saw him enter his room again. "There he is. Maybe he was brushing his teeth or something."

As Chad closed the door behind him, Cree held her breath in anticipation. And when he pulled off his shirt, a slow smile spread across her face. _It wasn't my imagination._

"What's going on?" asked Abby, floating down closer.

"Shh," Cree quieted, though really there was no reason to. Then in an undertone, she protested, "Aw, come on, baby, what's the rush? Keep that shirt off a little longer."

Abby let out a scoffing laugh. "I don't get you, Cree. Why do you keep pushing Chad on me when you're the one that's got a crush on him?"

"Dang it, show's over—" She turned abruptly to her sister. "What?"

"Or maybe it's _because_ you've got a crush on Chad that you're trying to push him on me."

"What are you talking about? I do _not_ have a crush on Chad."

Abby raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"What? This? I'm just looking—there's nothing wrong with looking," she insisted stiffly.

"And what about the flirting?"

"Flirting? I don't flirt with Chad."

"Then what's all the laughing and the smiling and the touching all about? Where I come from, that's called flirting."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm dating Maurice; you know that. Everyone knows that."

Abby crossed her arms smugly. "You know, Sis, your arguments don't hold a lot of water after this little journey into voyeurism."

"I—well—_you're_ the one spying on me; I'm just—this was really more like research. If you hadn't shown up—"

"If I hadn't shown up, I bet you'd come back here tomorrow. And the next day, and the day after that."

"I would not!"

"Heh, lie all you want, but I saw that dopey look on your face when you were staring at Chad just now."

"I—I can't help it if Chad's hot," Cree sputtered defensively. "I mean—Maurice is a cutie, but he hasn't…quite…finished with puberty yet. But Chad…I don't know, maybe it's all the football…."

"Just own up, Cree. You like Chad."

"I—You—Just shut up! You're just trying to confuse me! You've been macking on my boyfriend since you were five, and now you're messing with me to try to steal him. Well it's not going to work!" Her jet boots fired up and she blasted away, full speed.

"Pfft." Abby shook her head. "Denial."

---  
---

author's notes: yep, denial. XD

a note about the phrase "naked Chad." while it technically would be more correct if Abby had asked "did you just see Chad naked?" it somehow seemed to come out better as "naked Chad." perhaps i've been spending too much time online and netspeak has infiltrated my brain. in which case the correct spelling would have been "naked!Chad". :P

another side note--Chad's windows are really sound proof.


	19. withdraw

Chad stood at his locker gathering the books he would need for that night's homework. He didn't feel the need to rush; Cree always showed up sooner or later on days that she scheduled meetings. Sure, she'd been acting just this side of crazy lately, but he could tolerate a little crazy if it meant spending time with her. Hell, he would tolerate a _lot_ of crazy to spend time with her. One bonus to Abby's addition to the team was that Cree was so happy now that her sister was working with them that she didn't spend much time scrutinizing him. They just walked to her home together, and she'd chatter on, sometimes about her sister, but often about nothing in particular. And Chad enjoyed her company; he always did, it was only the constant underlying impulse to grab her and hold her tight that ever really made him hesitant to hang out with her. Well, that and the horrible pain he sometimes felt when he remembered she still wasn't his. But other than that, it was those small, stolen moments alone with Cree that he came to live for.

Which was why he was disappointed that she didn't show up that day. He waited long after classes were over, until the halls had completely emptied. He went to her locker, then to her last class of the day. Just as he was trying to decide what to do next, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Chad, where are you?"

"Cree? Where are _you?"_

"I'm at home. We had a meeting today, remember?"

"Yeah, I was-- I mean, I was just…."

"You…weren't waiting for me, were you?"

Chad paused before answering. "No."

"I'm sorry, I...needed to do something before the meeting, so I came right home after class."

"It's okay, I wasn't waiting," he lied in a low, steady voice. "I'm just running late. I'll be there in a few."

"Okay, see you soon."

He turned off his cell phone and slumped against the wall. _It's not like I expected her to wait for me. It's not like I really care about walking home with her. We never really talked about anything important anyways…._

---

Abby spent the majority of the meetings sitting uninterestedly and avoiding eye contact with Maurice. If he couldn't figure out why she was upset, she sure wasn't going to tell him. It amazed her how stupid he could be.

Yet she still found herself watching him sometimes….

Abby should have realized that pointing out Cree's crush on Chad would have the unfortunate side effect of increasing her sister's displays of affection towards Maurice. And of course he never rejected them; either out of his sense of duty to the Kids Next Door or whatever. Abby tried not to think of it too much.

However, seeing Cree interact with Chad was usually a good distraction. Lately with him she was all strained and awkward and distant. It was amusing to see her so self-conscious. Abby smugly took credit for this; it was revenge for her sister's embarrassing attempts to hook her up with Chad.

_That'll teach her to try and mess with me._

---

"I don't get it." Cree looked at the papers in front of her as the others sat around unresponsively. "The Chewy Pellet mission was weeks ago, why hasn't anything happened yet?"

Both Abby and Maurice knew that nothing had happened because Maurice had thrown out the stickiness-enhancing compound instead of incorporating it into the candy factory's sugar supply, but of course neither of them said a word.

Chad just sat slumped in his seat and stared at the table.

Cree looked at her sister, and then her boyfriend. Then she took a breath and looked at Chad, who sat across from her.

"Chad?"

He looked up, and she immediately looked down at the papers before her. "I was wondering—could you check—I mean, well, hack into the Perfect Pellets computers again? Check for…look for reports—documentation or something, anything on, um, you know, if they found anything suspicious. Or something. If you could."

Abby smirked and shook her head. Cree's display was both comical and painful to watch. She was glad that they were having meetings less frequently these days.

"Okay, sure," Chad answered apathetically.

"Thanks. And Maurice, Honey, everything went all right when you put the compound in with the sugar, right?"

"Yeah."

"Of course it did. I didn't mean to sound like I doubted you." Cree stepped over to her boyfriend and gave him a hug and a kiss.

Abby quietly scoffed and averted her eyes. Her gaze unintentionally fell on Chad, who was watching the 'happy couple.' On his face was an expression she knew all too well. It spoke volumes of pain and loneliness and heartbreak.

_He loves her…._

---

After the meeting, Chad left, Abby went to her room, and Cree and Maurice cuddled, or did whatever they did when they were alone. Abby had a clear view of the street from her window, and when Maurice emerged from the house an hour or so later, she climbed out from her window silently, as she had done hundreds of times in the past to sneak to the Treehouse.

"Maurice," she called to him in a whisper.

He turned. "Oh, hi, Abby," he said somewhat coolly.

She wanted him to know this meeting was strictly business, so she immediately said, "in all your recon reports, you never said anything about Chad."

"What do you mean? It's all in there. 'Chadworth Dickson: football-playing, computer-hacking jerk.' What else is there to know?"

"You never said anything about how he feels about—" She stopped. "You don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what?" he asked, suddenly uneasy. "How he feels about what?"

"Never mind. I don't know for sure, anyways."

"Don't know what for sure? What's going on?"

"It's not important." Abby turned back to the house, brooding. Teasing Cree about her crush on Chad was entertaining enough, but she didn't realize how Chad felt about her. Now Cree was acting all aloof towards him, and it was largely her fault. Abby never really thought about Chad at all, but after seeing him so hurt—

"Abby," Maurice interrupted her thoughts. His voice was serious, almost sad. "Abby, what are we doing?"

She turned back to look him in the eye. "I don't know." Then she stepped away from him and returned to her house.

---

Cree lay on her bed with a magazine spread open before her, but she just stared at the pages without actually taking any of them in. It was Sunday morning and she knew she should be doing her homework, but no matter what she tried to do lately, all she ended up doing was staring into space.

She lay there on her stomach, absently gnawing her thumbnail. When she realized what she was doing, she removed the appendage from her mouth, disgusted with herself. _Ugh, nail biting, I haven't done that in years. What's wrong with me?_

_Everything. _That was the answer. _Everything is wrong with everything._ She didn't know why, but life had suddenly become wrong. The smallest things irritated her, she was always upset or depressed. She remembered being happy when Abby joined the team, but now that feeling was gone. Now everyone just aggravated her. Even spending time with Maurice took effort. She had thought he was happy ever since Abby was around, but she must have been mistaken. He seemed more glum than usual.

And Chad…. She shut her eyes tight and shook her head. She didn't want to think about Chad. _He's always been such a downer, from the very beginning. I just don't have the energy to try to make him happy anymore._

Then as if to taunt her, a memory of them laughing together flashed in her mind. It hardly seemed real.

There was a knock on her door.

"Cree? Can I come in?" she heard her sister's voice through the door.

"No."

But the door opened anyways.

"Hey, Sis, what are you up to?"

"I'm jet skiing," she said as she stared at the magazine before her.

Abby stood at the threshold of the door for a moment, and Cree wished that she would go away. For a moment it almost seemed as if she would.

But then she said, "Listen, Cree, about Chad—"

"I've stopped trying to hook you two up; will you just leave me alone about him?" she snapped.

Abby lingered for another moment, but then turned around and left.

Cree was thankful, because she had started to cry.

_Why am I so miserable?_ She questioned herself as fat tears rolled from her cheeks and splashed onto the magazine in front of her. _Why…?_

---  
---

author's notes: and now, after all the silliness, the angst returns, full force!


	20. depression

They sat on the living room couch together, Cree and Maurice. Maurice stared at the television screen, unresponsive to Cree, who had her arms wrapped tightly around him.

Cree shivered and huddled closer to her boyfriend, searching for warmth where there was none.

"Maurice?" she asked softly.

He didn't reply.

"Maurice…?"

There was a long pause before he finally mumbled an absent, "Hm?"

"I…I'm so…. Why are…." She trailed off and sighed. "It's nothing." She continued to hold him, shivering.

---

It was that dream again. Cree was having it more and more often these days. She didn't understand why, and she wasn't even sure if she was happy about it or not. It always started with such sadness—that person kept running from her, and she kept chasing. Who could it be? Maurice? Abby? But how? She had them both; they were all together again, why did she still feel as if she were chasing?

And it always ended the same. She always lost her strength and stopped and was alone. And just as she lost all hope and was about to give in to despair, someone came to comfort her with a warm, loving embrace.

She stopped trying to discover the identity of her mainstay, she just drank in the warmth and the tenderness that she needed so desperately. And then for the rest of the night she would sleep peacefully.

---

Abby slouched in her chair at her desk, staring expressionlessly, eyes half-closed, at the calendar on the wall in front of her. Then she leaned forward, propping her elbows on the desk and resting her head in her hands.

It's not my responsibility to reconcile Cree and Chad, it's Cree's own fault for acting so weird. But still, she couldn't help feeling guilty. At first Abby thought Cree's awkwardness was due to embarrassment at her crush on Chad being discovered. But now Cree seemed so dejected all the time, and Chad—well, Abby didn't really know him well enough to say if his apparent gloominess was normal for him or not; for all she knew, he wasn't in love with Cree at all. 

_Where should my priorities lie?_ Ever since the onset of Cree's depression, her interest in fighting the Kids Next Door had hit rock bottom. Her interest in pretty much anything was at an all-time low. Meetings were become fewer and farther in-between. Cree hadn't come up with any new missions. Technically this was a good thing for the Kids Next Door.

_But I can't just sit around and watch Cree waste away like this; it's wrong._

---

Abby answered the door and let Maurice in.

"Hi, Abby," he greeted quietly.

"Cree canceled the meeting."

"Oh, really?" He glanced at the door he had just entered, as if considering leaving again.

"But I think you should go up and talk to her."

"Why?"

"She's been really down lately."

Maurice looked up the stairs in the direction of Cree's room. Her door was closed. "Yeah, I noticed that."

"I think you should try to cheer her up or something."

"Me? Why?"

"You're her boyfriend."

"Technically. But that doesn't mean I know how to cheer her up."

"Just go up and talk to her."

"About what?"

"I don't know, whatever it is you guys talk about when you're alone."

He shook his head slightly. "That's the thing—I try to talk to her as little as possible."

Abby considered his answer for a moment. "Then…what do you do on dates?"

"I don't know; we go out to movies, or loud restaurants, or parties or something."

"Well, how about when you're alone?"

"I don't know, dating stuff," he answered, visibly uncomfortable.

Abby studied him. "So…you make out?"

He shrugged, tilting his head in a gesture that was neither a nod nor a shake.

Her gaze became more intent. "You…don't do more than—"

"No!" he finally shouted, pacing several steps away. "Of course not! Why are you even asking that?"

"So…what you're saying…is that your relationship with Cree is based on making out?"

He took a deep breath and let it out loudly. "No," he said in measured words, "our relationship is based on Cree's mistaken belief that I like her."

Abby frowned. Maurice's answer sounded harsh, but it was the truth, and she had always known it. "And you don't talk…" she murmured to herself more than anyone.

"Well, she talks to me, but I don't encourage it. All I need to know is what she's planning for missions, I don't want to know anything else. If she starts talking too much then _I _might start talking too much, and that would wreck everything."

She brooded over his words. Finally she looked up at him. "You're a horrible boyfriend."

He gaped at her with an expression that was both shocked and wounded, as if she had suddenly slapped him for no reason. When he found his voice he said, "I—I have to keep her close, but at a distance. This is my job, Abby, don't you understand that?"

She looked away to avoid the pain that was clearly in his eyes. "Yeah, I do."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"I…don't know. I don't know if I want anything from you. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have asked you to talk to Cree. You should…just go."

He stared at her, perhaps waiting for her to say something else. But she didn't, so he slowly turned and left, and Abby closed the door quietly behind him.

_I have enough problems of my own, how can I even begin to try to solve anyone else's?_

---

Chad rolled onto his stomach and glanced at his alarm clock. It was not quite 4 a.m. He stared at his window—at least the sun wasn't rising yet. Nothing's more depressing than when you can't sleep and it's already dawn. He attempted to roll over on his back again, but he had tossed and turned so much already that he was tangled in his sheets. Sighing, he extracted himself and got out of bed to straighten his bed covers. He looked at the clock again. He considered going downstairs to the kitchen to warm up some milk, but he had never found warm milk to do him much good anyways. He opted to lie back down. He took a deep breath and released it slowly then rubbed the heels of his hands into his closed eyes. _Why can't I shake this restlessness?_

He rolled onto his side. He found himself staring directly at the stuffed turtle sitting on his nightstand. He reached out to pick it up, squeezing it gently. He then lay it down beside him on his pillow.

"Hey, Speedy. What does Cree think of me?" he asked it quietly.

The turtle provided no answers.

He turned again to stare at the ceiling, and found he couldn't repress a plaintive sigh.

_I…miss Cree_. It was bad enough when she only thought of him as a friend, but now, now that she hardly ever talked to him, he realized how much her friendship meant to him. He never let himself open up to anyone else but her; she was the only one he ever felt that he could tell anything to. Well, almost anything.

And then there was that one fear, greater than he was willing to admit, that continually lingered at the edge of his consciousness, feeding on his insecurities: _Maybe she finally figured out how I feel about her and now she doesn't even want to be my friend anymore._

That thought made him feel so horribly alone.

Chad closed his eyes. He was tired; he wished his brain would stop tormenting him; he wished sleep would come. Sometimes when he slept he dreamed of Cree. He would walk alone in the darkness, searching for her, and he would find her standing alone. He would approach her, and without saying a word, he would put his arms around her, and she never shook him off. Not once.

Chad opened his eyes at the sound of beeping, and squinted at the light. It was morning. He turned off the alarm and sat up. The last two hours went by in an instant. He picked up Speedy from his pillow, again giving it a light squeeze before returning it to the nightstand. After a moment of dazed inactivity, he got out of bed.

Another day. He hoped he'd make it through.

---  
---

author's notes: I'm sure the title tipped you off on how cheerful this chapter would be!


	21. bonding

author's notes: warning—super-long chapter ahead! it's two or three times longer than my usual chapters, but i couldn't think of how to break it up into two shorter chapters, so here it is.

---  
---

The first thing Cree did that morning after waking up was pull a package out from under her bed. She opened the flat, rectangular box and pushed aside the tissue paper to reveal a shirt. She had bought it for Abby weeks and weeks ago. She had been so certain at the time that her sister would love it; now she wasn't so sure. It was long-sleeved and slim-fitting—probably a little bit girly for Abby's tastes, but at least it wasn't pink and covered in frilly things or anything.

Cree sighed and carefully put the shirt back in the box. It was too late to buy her another present now, anyways. And besides, anything was better than that old, over-sized t-shirt she always wore.

She walked down the hall to her sister's room and knocked on the door. "Abby, are you awake?" she called through it. There was no answer, but she turned the doorknob and entered anyways.

"Good morning, Abby," she said as she stuck her head in through the door. She walked to the lumpy mass under the bedcovers. "Abby?" She shook the lump gently. "Happy birthday."

The blankets seemed to fold into itself, huddling into a tighter bundle.

"Go away," Cree heard her sister's voice say.

"Abby," Cree urged softly, "it's your birthday; you should be happy." She put the box down on the bed. "I got you a present. Open it."

"I don't want it."

Cree sat down on the bed and bent forward to hug the mess of blankets her sister was under. She wished their mother were there, maybe she would know what to say to comfort Abby. But she was on her own.

"I know it's hard turning thirteen, especially for you. But don't think of it as an end to your childhood, it's just the beginning of a great new chapter of your life." Cree frowned. She hoped that didn't sound as cheesy as she thought it did.

"Being a teen is great?" Abby asked disdainfully. "Yeah, like you've really got your life together."

Cree didn't respond. Her sister's words hurt, probably more so because they were true. Her life was a mess lately; she really wasn't one to advertise the wonders of teenaged existence. She released her sister, sat up, and left the room without another word.

Minutes later, Abby called out in a small voice, "Cree…?" When there was no answer, she sat up and looked around her room. Her eyes fell on her birthday present on the bed beside her. She sighed and curled up under her blankets again.

---

The doorbell rang and Cree opened the door to see her boyfriend.

"Thanks for coming," she said as she reached out and hugged him tight. She pulled him inside and closed the door behind them. "It's Abby's birthday today."

"Is it?" he asked with an expression that seemed to show mild surprise and interest.

"Yeah…and she's not taking it well. I've tried talking to her again and again, but I can't even get her to open her door. So I was thinking…." Memories of her sister and boyfriend talking together flashed through her mind. "You're friends, maybe she'll talk to you."

Maurice was looking up the stairs and not at her. "Okay, I'll try. If that's what you want." He began ascending the stairs, and noticing her following him, he said, "maybe you should wait downstairs."

"Oh…okay." She took a few uncertain steps away from the foot of the stairs as she watched him climb the rest of the way up. She heard him knock on Abby's door, and heard him call her name softly. There was a pause, another knock; the name was repeated.

A minute later, maybe less, he came back down the stairs looking gloomy. Cree watched him intently.

"She wouldn't talk to me," he informed.

Cree sighed. "Thanks for trying." She moved closer to kiss him but he turned away.

"Anyways, I need to be somewhere. See—"

"Wait, I'll come with you. Can I? I'm feeling kind of down myself, and staying here trying to get Abby to come out of her room isn't helping."

He didn't look pleased at the thought, but he said, "Fine."

---

It was a little unusual for Cree to have scheduled a meeting on a Saturday, but Chad remembered her specifically asking him to make sure he was free that day. Of course, it was a while ago when she had asked him. It was even before she had started acting…the way she'd been acting.

As he approached the Lincoln house, he saw Cree and Maurice leaving it. "Actually, wait…I don't know now," she was saying, "Maybe we shouldn't leave her alone—"

She stopped short when she noticed Chad. "Chad, What are you…? Oh, that's right, I asked you to…. I'm sorry, we're not going to have a meeting today after all."

"Oh, okay. I…guess I'll see you later." He turned to leave.

"Wait, Chad?"

He stopped.

"I was…." She paused and frowned, looking up to the house. "I was hoping you could do me a favor."

He was more than a little surprised but tried not to show it. "Uh…what do you want?"

"Today is Abby's thirteenth birthday. She's depressed, I know she is, but she refuses to let me cheer her up. She won't talk to me; she won't talk to Maurice…. Could…could you stay here with her? You know, just make sure she doesn't sit around and wallow in self-pity all day."

"I…don't know…" he hedged. "She and I really aren't close—"

"Please…? She probably won't even come out of her room. But if she does, I don't want her to be all alone in the house. We won't be too long. An hour, two at the most."

"I don't see what good it would do having him around," Maurice mumbled.

Chad shot a resentful look at Maurice. "Fine, I'll hang out with Abby if that's what you want."

"Thanks so much!" Cree reached out and squeezed his hand. She then released his hand quickly, and Chad could have sworn he saw her blush. "I just don't want to leave her alone on her thirteenth birthday, especially not when she's like this. You're the best!" And with that, she left with a grouchy-looking Maurice.

Chad turned to walk into the house, wishing that he were the one leaving with Cree and that Maurice were the one staying with Abby.

He walked through the kitchen into the living room. She was in neither of these rooms. He headed to the dining room, but was certain she wouldn't be in there, and a quick glance around confirmed his suspicion. He stepped to the foot of the stairs and looked up them. If Abby felt anything like he did on his thirteenth birthday, she wanted to be left alone. But still, he told Cree he would. _The things I do for her…._

"Hey," he called upstairs in a rather flat voice. "Abby, it's me…Chad. I'm here…in your house…just to let you know." _Well, that sounded lame._

He saw the door at the top of the stairs open, and Abby's head peered out. "Chad? What are you doing here? Cree's not home."

"I know, I saw her leave, she let me in."

She scrutinized him. "Why? Did she ask you to keep an eye on me?" Abby muttered something inaudible under her breath.

"No," Chad lied, realizing that admitting so would only anger her more. Though judging from her scoff, she didn't believe him anyways. "She told me it was your birthday. Uh…happy birthday."

"What's so happy about it?"

"Thirteen consecutive years in the same body, that's a decent accomplishment."

She scoffed again, but this time it may have been a short laugh.

"Do you want to talk about it or something? I remember my thirteenth birthday pretty well."

"Yeah, I remember it pretty clearly myself."

Chad reddened. _That's right. I tried to kill her and her friends on my thirteenth birthday._ He looked up at her irritated countenance. "You're right. I'm sorry. I…I guess I'm the last person you want to talk to right now. I should go."

Abby sighed loudly. "Yeah, I think you should."

He took a step away, but then paused. "I just want to say, even if you don't believe me, that I'm sorry about what I did back then. I didn't really want to hurt you. I was just…so angry at everyone and everything. I wasn't thinking; I was just lashing out at everyone nearby. I know it doesn't excuse what I did. I'm sorry."

Abby watched him during his entire monologue. It was a little unnerving. But when he finished and bid her farewell, she spoke in a low and even voice.

"I know how you felt. When you're upset you hurt your friends because they're the ones who'll feel it the most, and it's like…validation when you can cause someone pain. I understand."

Chad didn't know what to say, but managed to stammer out a "thank you." He headed again for the door to leave.

"Wait a sec." She came out of her room. "Maybe it would be good to talk about things. I'll be sitting in my room thinking about it anyway, I might as well have a sounding board."

He was rather stunned at her change in attitude, but said, "Okay. Do you want to stay in or go out?"

Abby glanced around the place. "Let's go out."

They walked out the house together, though Chad really couldn't say he was overjoyed at the prospect of spending time with Abby. He still didn't quite trust her, and he sensed that the feeling was mutual.

"Um…so…" he started uncertainly.

"Let's go to Müller's," she suggested the local deli.

"Oh, okay."

"You like bologna, right?"

"Uh…yeah," Chad replied, looking at her in surprise. "How did you—"

"Lucky guess," she said with an expression that might have been a smirk.

They went to Müller's Deli and got sandwiches.

"I could pay for yours," Chad offered, "as a birthday present."

"Hell, no," she answered as she plunked her money on the counter.

They sat on the bench outside the deli. For a while the two of them just ate in silence, but then Abby said, almost contemplatively, "You know, I don't feel any different."

Chad turned his head just slightly to look at her.

She continued, staring at her sandwich. "I thought it would feel different, turning thirteen. But I feel pretty much the same as I did yesterday."

Chad studied her. He wasn't quite sure if she were trying to start a conversation or if she were just thinking aloud. Of course, if she had wanted to talk to herself, she would have just stayed home.

So he swallowed hard and said, "I know what you mean. It's like, when I was little, I expected Christmas to feel different from any other day of the year, but it didn't really."

Abby looked at him then, and for a moment he worried that maybe she was thinking aloud after all and she didn't want to have a conversation. But then she smiled—sort of—and he exhaled in relief. That was probably the main thing about her that he found so intimidating; he could never really tell what she was thinking. Chad made a mental note never to play poker with her.

"Yeah, it is like that," she replied, "except…more internal. Some people make it seem like you turn into a completely different person once you become a teen. I guess some people do." She paused, no longer looking at Chad, but at a point past him, far away.

But then she pulled herself back and focused on him again with a grin. "I don't know if I will. I still eat a pound of candy every day, I don't think that'll change now that I'm thirteen."

Chad raised his eyebrows at her. "Good luck with that pancreas."

"Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little, but still, I eat a lot of candy."

"Yeah, but eating a lot of candy isn't really a way to define childhood. I mean, look at Stickybeard. Now there's a man who throws caution to the wind."

Abby smiled musingly. "To think I was _this close_ to being his first mate."

"Seriously? He must have liked you. Whenever I encountered him he was always trying to get gum in my hair."

"He's just jealous. He's completely bald under that hat, you know."

They finished their sandwiches unhurriedly and then walked back to her house, continuing their conversation. Chad was rather surprised though grateful for the lack of awkward pauses in their discussion. He privately laughed at himself for being so scared of her all this time. She was actually a friendly and well-spoken person. And he began to realize as he talked to Abby how much he missed having a conversation with someone. That someone used to be Cree before she started acting all weird and evasive.

When they reached the Lincoln house, they caught a glimpse of Cree and Maurice through the window. Her arms were around him as they often were these days. Chad turned away, deciding not to go in.

"Well, I'll see y—"

"Ugh. Again with the hugging and the kissing and the…. Let's go someplace else."

"Oh, okay," he answered, and they walked away together.

They continued their conversation as they went to get ice cream cones. Again Chad offered to pay, and again his offer was rejected. The topic of their talk had segued to what it meant to be a teenager.

"To be honest, I don't know what it means, other than literally being between the ages of twelve and twenty. I mean, sure there's the stereotypical teen who does nothing but complain and listen to loud music and make stupid decisions. I don't know, I think it has a lot to do with the whole situation of not being old enough to be respected as an adult, but supposedly being old enough to 'know better' so we get punished more severely for things we got away with as kids. We totally get a crap deal."

"So you're saying that what it means to be a teenager is to be disgruntled all the time?"

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, I think that sums it up pretty well. Of course if that were true, I've been a teenager all my life."

Abby laughed slightly at this. "Yeah, I…" but then she trailed off and settled into a thoughtful pause.

Chad turned, wondering at her silence. _What is she thinking?_

She continued. "You know, I'm surprised that even after all this time…or even today, during our first real conversation, that you haven't asked me why I joined the teens." She pointedly wasn't looking at him.

But Chad was looking at her. _Is it possible that she can read me that well; that she can see the question that's been on my mind for so long, while I can't figure her out at all?_ Aloud, he said, "I…guess for the same reason you haven't asked me why I joined the teens when I turned thirteen. That, and you probably don't want to talk about it."

A bittersweet smile was on her lips. "You're right. I don't."

That exchange finally triggered one of those awkward pauses that they had managed to avoid until then.

Abby broke the silence. "It's kinda chilly out, isn't it?"

"You just devoured three scoops of ice cream, I'm not surprised you're cold." He took off his jacket and offered it to her.

She shook her head. "No, thanks. I just need to get inside and warm up a little."

"My house isn't too far from here."

They entered the Dickson residence and were greeted by the smell of baking.

"Something smells good," observed Abby.

'Hello, dear," Mrs. Dickson called from the kitchen.

"Hi, Mom," Chad said in reply, "I brought a friend—"

His mother peered out of the kitchen. "Oh, hello, Cree," she greeted as she saw her.

"Actually, no, this is Abby; she's Cree's sister."

"Oh, I'm sorry, you look a lot like her."

Chad turned to study Abby. He never really thought about it before, but it was true, she did sort of look like Cree. It was then that he noticed that she was wearing a different shirt from usual. It suited her.

"That's okay, I get that sometimes." Abby shrugged. "Whatever you're making smells delicious."

"Oh, how sweet of you to say. They're my cinnamon scones, you can have one if you're willing to wait a few more minutes."

"That'd be great, thank you."

Mrs. Dickson returned to her kitchen, and Abby started looking around the living room. "Must be nice having your mom around all the time."

"Huh?" Chad asked a little distractedly. "Oh, yeah, I guess so. Um…you want a tour of the house?"

"Sure," she agreed without much enthusiasm.

He showed her the living room, the den, the study, and the game room.

"So where do they keep the Mega Mom and Destructo Dad stuff?" Abby asked with a grin.

Chad glanced at her conspiratorially. "That's upstairs."

She peered furtively towards the kitchen, where they could hear his mom bustling around. "Can I see it?"

"Okay, but we have to be quiet."

Abby nodded and they crept up the stairs. He walked to a door that looked like all the others, but when he opened it, it revealed another door; this one was metal with a small display and a keypad. Again peering behind him, out of paranoia more than anything else, he punched in an access code. The door slid up, revealing a staircase, which they ascended quickly. Once at the top of the stairs, he turned on the lights to show a room that resembled a lab. It kind of looked how the Bat Cave would if Martha Stewart were Batman's decorator.

"Pretty snazzy," remarked Abby as she looked around the room.

"Yeah, it is, kind of."

She stared at the two villain uniforms behind glass doors.

"Mom launders those after every use. It's a real pain because they're hand-wash only."

"I'm surprised they haven't made you one of them."

"They did, actually, just after I turned thirteen. I _accidentally_ destroyed it during the test run."

"Not your color?" She smirked.

"Totally not," he deadpanned. "Anyways, they hardly go on missions anymore. Mom mostly uses hers when they go to the Supervillain Supermarket. They have good deals there."

"Best place in these parts to buy Rainbow Munchies."

At the sound of Mrs. Dickson's voice from downstairs, they scrambled out of the room.

Once they were in the living room again, they saw a plate of scones and two cups of tea laid out for them on the coffee table.

"Help yourselves," she said to them warmly.

"Thanks, Mrs. Dickson," said Abby, reaching for a cup of tea.

"Yeah, thanks, mom," Chad echoed, rather surprised.

"You should bring your friends over more often." His mom smiled at them and returned to the kitchen.

Chad then understood the warm reception. He hadn't had a visitor since Cree dropped by for that impromptu visit months ago. She had never been by before then, and hadn't visited since. Now that he thought of it, he used to drop by uninvited at her house, too. He couldn't even imagine doing that now. Their relationship was getting more distant instead of closer.

"Mm, these are really good," Abby managed to say between mouthfuls of scone. "Your mom sure knows how to make guests feel welcome."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, she's taken classes in hospitality," he replied, thinking he could use some lessons himself. Because right then he was wishing he were alone. It happened every once in a while and was completely beyond his control. It manifested as a physical pain, an ache, an emptiness, and he was sharply reminded of how badly he wanted to be with Cree. Sometimes he'd be fine for days, but it always caught up with him eventually, and the only thing he could do was shut himself up somewhere by himself and cry.

"'Scuse me. Bathroom." He headed up the stairs.

---

Abby had finished her tea and two scones, and was wondering what had happened to Chad. She had already wandered the living room, read the inscriptions on all his trophies, and looked at all the photos on the walls.

Mrs. Dickson came in through the kitchen. "Oh, hello, Abby, where's Chad?"

"I think he went to the bathroom."

"Oh, well, you're welcome to stay for dinner if you like."

"Thanks, but I should be getting home. Thank you for the scones, they were delicious."

"I'm glad you liked them. I'm sorry you can't stay, but feel free to come by again anytime. Say the same to your sister for me, I never got a chance to properly thank her for dropping by and cheering up my boy last time."

"Okay, I'll let her know that." Abby headed for the front door, and she heard Chad's mom reenter the kitchen behind her. But she paused before leaving. It felt kind of weird just leaving without saying anything to Chad.

She headed up the stairs. All the doors in the upstairs hallway were open except for the door to Mega Mom and Destructo Dad's room. She saw the bathroom; it was empty. She passed one room that seemed to be a guest room, and another that was probably the parents' room. Beyond that was a door that was only slightly ajar.

---

Chad was curled miserably on his bed when he heard Abby's voice call uncertainly:

"Uh...Chad?"

He sat bolt upright and hastily rubbed his eyes, cursing himself. He had completely forgotten that he had ditched her downstairs.

His door was pushed open, letting dim light into the room.

"I'm sorry. I—wasn't feeling well," Chad stammered. He suddenly found himself jealous of girls who always had the long-standing excuse of PMS or cramps to explain any erratic behavior.

"It's okay, I was just leaving and wanted to say bye."

"Okay, bye," he said, not looking at her. "And happy birthday."

Abby stood at the doorway of Chad's darkened room and observed him as he sat, hunched miserably on edge of his bed. Slowly she walked over and sat beside him.

"You're in love with Cree, aren't you?" Abby asked softly.

Chad looked up at her, surprised for a second. Then focusing again on the floor, murmured, "Is it that obvious?"

"I've seen the way you look at her. I...don't think she knows, though."

"Good."

She studied him. "Good? Why?"

Chad sighed and didn't reply for a while. "She's with Maurice. I don't want to…. If she knew how I felt it would be awkward. At least now I can be near her…."

"It's not enough." Abby's voice was barely a whisper.

Chad turned to her again, caught off-guard by her insight. "You're right, it's not."

He gazed at her next to him as she sat staring at the floor in front of her. She felt kindred, somehow. He studied her, the curl of her lowered lashes, the glow of the soft light on her cheeks, the small pout of her slightly frowning lips.

It was towards those lips he found himself leaning….

"What are you doing?" she demanded, pulling away.

Chad blinked at her and realized he couldn't answer the question. "I—I'm sorry," he stammered, straightening, moving away.

"No, I—" Abby began then stood. "I should go."

Chad nodded, having returned to staring at the floor. "Yeah. Okay."

She stopped at the threshold and looked back at him. "I'm sor—it's just—" She took a breath and continued, "You'd be wishing I were Cree, and I'd…."

"You're right, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was doing," he replied raggedly. "I'm sorry."

The misery hung heavy in the air, and Abby hated that she had somehow added to it. She returned to his side and sat a little distance away from him.

Chad winced at this action and then let out another sigh.

Abby struggled with words of comfort. "Don't be…I mean, it wouldn't work, but…I understand."

He finally met her eyes. Like Cree's, but not. He believed her, she understood.

He managed a smile. "Thanks."

---  
---

more author's notes: heh, i don't know, something about this chapter was like watching a very slow train wreck.   
anyways, regarding Mega Mom/Mrs. Dickson, i figure the main reason Chad's parents became super-villains was to help their son become "Numbuh One" and now that he's not part of the KND anymore, they no longer have much reason to don the suits. so it's back to the life of a happy homemaker for Mrs. Dickson, albeit a slightly odd, somewhat creepy one.


	22. change

author's notes: sorry for the delay in updating, life's been really busy lately. the delay is even worse because this chapter is pretty much supposed to be kind of a direct continuation of the last. so i hope you guys remember the last one:P

---  
---

The next afternoon, Chad knocked on the front door of the Lincoln residence.

Abby answered the door. "Oh—hi, Chad."

"Abby, hi. Um, maybe I should have called first."

"Don't worry about it, come in." She stepped aside to let him enter. "But Cree isn't in, she and Maur--. She's out."

"Actually, I came to…. Maybe I should come back another—"

"No, come in."

"Um, okay."

"So did you drop by for a reason?" Abby asked.

"Not really. I just thought I…. I…just wanted to see what was going on," he said unconvincingly.

"Well, as you can see, the answer is not much," she replied, indicating the TV playing an infomercial.

"Oh, this is the one with the ten-in-one kitchen appliance. I've seen it," he commented, walking over to the set.

"Chad Dickson watches infomercials. That's one for the school papers." Abby grinned.

"Hey—infomercials are strangely fascinating. Besides, you're one to talk—what are you doing now?"

"I was just about to turn off the TV and go out."

"Oh…well, then I guess I'll see you later." Chad headed for the door.

"Wait," she stopped him. "I'm going to the library. Wanna come with?"

"The library?" he asked slowly, trying to decide. "Sure, why not?"

---

An hour or so later, the two of them left the library, each weighed down a little more than when they had entered.

"I can't believe that librarian thought I was someone named David Chang. Do I look like a David Chang to you?"

"Maybe she thought you were adopted," Abby speculated amusedly.

"And then she said I owed the library thirty dollars for a book that was four months overdue! I told her, 'My name isn't David Chang, and I've never even heard of that book!' And then she said, 'That's what the computer says.' I'm glad I'm not a little kid anymore, I still get Spankulot nightmares sometimes."

Abby laughed. "So what finally happened?"

"She scanned my card again and my correct info came up. And then she said, 'oh, it must have been a computer error, it happens all the time.' If that's the case, then why did she insist I was David Chang in the first place? She didn't even apologize!"

"I'm sorry, Chad, clearly the world is out to get you."

"I think it is!"

"Anyways, I'm hungry, want to go for a burger?"

"Sure."

---

Chad and Abby looked uncertainly at the façade of the burger place. Pink and red and hearts everywhere you turned. Romantic Burger did have the best burgers in town (with a far less chance of accidentally consuming human quarter-pounders than if you went to Burger Frenzy) but….

"You know what?" ventured Chad, "I think I'm more in the mood for pizza."

"Me too," agreed Abby.

"Abby?" called a very familiar voice.

They both turned to see Cree and Maurice heading towards them and the restaurant.

"Chad?" continued Cree, surprised. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were thinking about eating here, but then we decided that we were more in the mood for pizza," her sister replied as off-handedly as possible.

"Are you guys…on a date?" Cree queried, her expression growing sly.

Maurice frowned and turned away.

"N—no!" stammered Chad quickly.

"We just went to the library and then decided to get something to eat; it's nothing like that," Abby brushed off the prying question.

"Library…hm, I don't know, that sounds like nerd for 'date' to me!" Cree teased.

Chad turned a miserable shade of red.

"Ugh, we're not on a date, but believe anything you want to, Cree. Catch you later, okay?" Abby started to walk away.

Chad stood rooted in place, unable to decide what to do.

"I'm sorry, Abby, I'm not trying to be nosy! Come on," she dashed forward and grabbed her sister. "We can all eat here! It'll be like a double date!"

"I told you—"

"Then it'll be like four friends eating lunch together. Come on, it'll be fun! We never get to hang out just for fun."

Abby glanced at Chad, who seemed to be in some sort of post-stress shock. "Okay, fine. As _friends_."

---

The four of them sat at a ridiculously small table. Romantic Burger was not at all a family style restaurant, catering almost exclusively to couples. It didn't help that three out of the four seated at the table were in bad moods.

"So how was the library?" Cree attempted to get something like a conversation going.

There was no reply for a while and Cree wondered if the next meal would be spent in a highly uncomfortable, very long stretch of silence.

"It—" Chad croaked, then cleared his throat and tried again. "It was fine."

Cree looked at him and nodded slowly. _So maybe this was a bad idea…._

"We found out today that Chad can pass as an Asian guy," Abby joined in the conversation.

"What?" Cree tilted her head, confused.

Chad chuckled nervously. "Yeah, apparently the library thinks I'm someone named David Chang."

Cree laughed. "How did that happen?"

"It was some computer glitch. I was having mad visions of that movie—what was it? With Sandra Bullock?"

"_The Net_," Abby filled in, "yeah, I wonder what would have happened if she continued to insist you were David Chang?"

"Who knows? I'm glad I didn't find out. And did you see that woman's hair? What was it, purple?"

"I think it was a dark periwinkle, actually."

Cree looked back and forth at them, one to the other. She tried to catch Maurice's eye and give him a surreptitious wink, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring off into space with an annoyed expression. If Cree were the narcissistic type, she might think it was because he was upset that their date was interrupted. But by now she knew not to believe such things. She glanced at Abby and Chad again; they were talking animatedly. Cree didn't bother to make sense of their conversation. She was happy to see the two of them in good spirits for a change, and she was not a little triumphant that her plan to get the two of them together finally seemed to be working. Never mind the fact that she had technically given up on it weeks ago.

But there was something else…a strange feeling, almost like pain. She felt it whenever Chad smiled at her sister. _Chad used to smile at me like that…._ He did, she remembered that smile, from before she started pushing him away. She missed being able to talk to him about everything, anything, in a way she never talked to her boyfriend. Maurice never seemed to take that much interest in her. Sometimes it was like he didn't enjoy spending time with her….

She tried to shake those thoughts from her mind. She didn't know why she kept having them. She was happy with Maurice—she really was. And he was really a very caring and attentive boyfriend. Whenever one of their missions failed (as they invariably did) he always came by the next day with flowers or candy and spent the day with her. Not any guy would do that. Sure, he wasn't perfect; he sometimes got weird moods and needed a lot of alone time, and sometimes when she was with him, he didn't seem to actually be there, and there were times when she kissed him—

_No. I won't think about this._

Fortunately the food arrived and distracted Cree from her cycle of dismal musings. Chad and Abby continued to talk and smile at one another, and Cree found herself increasingly unable to watch. She turned to her boyfriend, who was also staring at the happy couple. Something about his expression of loathing was very familiar.

---

"That was a lot of fun," Cree smiled at Chad and Abby, "but I'm sure we all could use a little alone time, right?" She winked at the other two with absolutely no subtlety. Then she latched onto Maurice's arm and pulled him away. His feet dragged and he glared sullenly at the other two as he was hauled off.

Abby and Chad were left standing outside the entrance of Romantic Burger.

Chad sighed loudly.

"Don't think about it too much," said Abby, "that's just Cree being Cree."

He shook his head. "I just don't see where this all came from all of a sudden—her thinking we're dating…."

Abby turned to stare at him in disbelief. "You mean to say that you didn't notice the way she's been—" She stopped when she saw Chad's puzzled expression. "Never mind. Like I said, it's just Cree being Cree."

Chad frowned thoughtfully.

"Anyways, I'm headed home. See ya."

"Wait—Abby?"

She turned and looked at him.

"Um, actually, the reason I dropped by earlier was to thank you."

"For what?"

"For being there yesterday…for the talk…for…not being stupid like me."

She smiled. "I should really be thanking you. I was really depressed before you showed up. Cree was right, you are good to talk to."

"Cree said that?" he asked, hearing the pathetic wistfulness in his own voice.

Abby laughed in a way that was somehow both mocking and good-natured at the same time. "Yeah, something like that."

Chad smiled at the thought, but soon the glow of gladness faded. "Why…do you think she's been avoiding me lately?"

Abby's expression changed abruptly at that question, and Chad wondered if he shouldn't have asked it. But before he could change the subject, she said, "I don't know…she's just…she…. I guess in a way it's my fault."

He studied her, confused, not knowing what to say.

"It's just…she's stubborn, and…I didn't know how she—" She stopped and brooded for a while.

Chad regretted asking the question in the first place.

"You know what you should do?" She looked him directly in the eye. "You should talk to her. You should find a moment when the two of you are alone, and you should just tell her everything. How you feel about her, everything." She nodded in a confident manner, as if she had just come up with the perfect solution.

"I…what?" He chuckled in a half-hearted manner to hide his embarrassment. "I…no, I couldn't do that. What if…what if she looks at me with this horrified expression and goes, 'but I'm dating Maurice'." He put a hand to his head, imagining the disaster. "Ugh, I can just see it, she'd look at me with this expression of—of _supportive pity_ and say something like, 'I really like you; I hope we can still be friends.' And then I'd have to blow my brains out right there."

Abby frowned as if contemplating his scenario. "It wouldn't necessarily happen like that."

"I'm willing to put money on it."

"But why? She likes you a lot—"

"As a _friend."_

"As more than a friend," she insisted. "I think you're the only person she ever really talks to."

"Not lately."

"Forget lately. Wait, no, don't," she said, changing gears. "Have you noticed she's been depressed lately?"

_Of course I have, I notice everything about her._ Aloud he simply said, "yes."

"It started right around the time she stopped talking to you. To anyone, really. She needs someone to talk to. That someone should be you."

"What about Maurice?" He said the name with contempt.

"She doesn't talk to him."

"How do you know—"

"She doesn't; I know. It has to be you; she won't talk to me, either. And she's been really down, even today when she was smiling and laughing, I could tell she wasn't really happy, couldn't you? You need to talk to her. And you need to tell her how you feel."

Chad frowned broodingly at the ground. _I know I should, I know, I've been meaning to this whole time, but… these days whenever I so much as look at her she gets all weird, like she wants to get away._

Abby watched him for a long moment. "I could tell her for you."

"No!" he said sharply. "I mean—no. If anyone, it should come from me. Don't say anything to her. Please?"

She sighed. "Okay. But you've got to tell her sooner or later."

"I will. I just…need to find the right time. But I will."

---

Abby approached her house to find Maurice lurking in her yard. She nodded and even smiled a little as she said, "Hey, Mo. What are you doing out here?"

He looked up at her with a far less friendly countenance. "I'm surprised you didn't show up with Chad."

Her expression immediately hardened. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He only glared at her and didn't respond.

For a long moment she waited for him to explain his behavior. When he didn't she said, "You don't mean to say that Cree actually brainwashed you into thinking that Chad and I are dating?"

"Cree didn't have to say anything. I saw how you two were acting at Romantic Burger."

"We were just talking."

"Yeah, you two seemed real _friendly_."

"Exactly. We're friends, that's all."

Maurice sneered and focused on the empty street, which didn't provide much distraction.

Abby strode forward to stand in his line of vision. "What is your problem? Do I suddenly need your permission to be friends with other people?"

"Not just any person," he countered, "Chad. He's a traitor and the biggest jerk on the planet, and if you had any loyalty to the Kids Next Door at all, you wouldn't talk to him, much less act all _chummy_ with him."

"Is that what this is about? You're questioning my loyalty?"

"And where have you been? It's been over an hour since we left Romantic Burger. Were you spending time with your new _friend?"_

She glowered at him. "Spell it out for me, Maurice. Are you angry because you doubt my alliances, or because you think I'm dating Chad?"

"I just think— If you— If you were only pretending to date him to get information, then that would be acceptable, but it looks to me—"

"Oh? So if I did what you're doing to Cree? You would like that? If I draped myself all over Chad but then kept secretly hinting that I'd rather be with you? Is that what you want?"

"It would be better than what you're doing now."

"I don't know what you think I'm doing, but I can tell you right now that I'm not. I haven't betrayed the Kids Next Door and I'm not dating Chad. I don't see why you don't believe me, but you know what? I don't care." She swept past him towards her house.

"Maybe I don't believe you because you wouldn't react nearly this much if you were telling the truth."

Abby turned and gaped at him with the expression of one insulted. But she recovered quickly and retorted, "Maybe I'm reacting _this much_ because I can't believe we're having this conversation in the first place. You used to be someone I admired. You used to be someone I thought I could depend on. You've changed."

"_I've_ changed!" Maurice erupted. "What about you? You used to be someone I could talk to; you used to be the person I could trust all my secrets with. What happened to _you?"_

She stared at him, looking less angry and more wounded. "I don't know," she said in a much softer voice. "Maybe it's true, maybe we all do become completely different people when we become teenagers."

Maurice seemed to deflate as he listened to her words. "That's right, I almost forgot," he murmured. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small package, which he deposited into her hands. It was a bag of blurpleberry jellybeans; they were Abby's favorite back when they were both in Sector V together. "I wanted to give them to you yesterday, but you refused to see me. Happy birthday."

Abby gazed at the present in her hands. They had been her favorite, but sometime over the years she had grown tired of them and moved on to other favorite candies. Stifling a sigh, she said, "Thank you."

He nodded, stepped away from her, and left.

She stared at the present. _Everything changes. Maybe I just need to accept that. _She looked up to watch Maurice's departing form. _Maybe that's what growing up is all about._


	23. absurdity

Chad rushed through the emptying hallways to Cree's locker, and seeing her there, paused to catch his breath before approaching her. As she closed her locker door he stepped up to her and greeted, "Hi, Cree."

She turned to look at him, surprised. "Oh! Hi!" Her heart was beating strangely; she presumed it was because he had startled her. "What are you doing here?"

"I…well, I just wanted to say hi."

"Okay. Well, hi," she said with a smile.

"Uh—well, I also wanted— Um…." He paused and considered a moment. Then he looked at her with a somewhat sheepish expression and continued, "I kind of miss walking home with you and just talking."

Cree felt a warm glow at his confession, followed immediately by remorse. She had been avoiding him…she should be avoiding him. _I'm dating Maurice, and Chad's…. _ Chad was dating Abby. Which was exactly what she had been wanting. Wasn't it? _That's right, it happened just as I hoped it would, and now we'll all be closer._ She smiled, ignoring the odd feeling in her chest that she couldn't quite identify. Her mind worked hard to come to a decision. _Now that he's dating Abby, we can all be friends now, right? Abby's dating Chad, so she should stop teasing me about him, and I can stop worrying about her trying to steal Maurice. And then we'll all be together forever. Everything's perfect now. Right?_

Chad watched her uncertainly. She hadn't said anything for a while. "Um…are you feeling okay? If…if you want me to go away—"

"Right," Cree said decisively, answering her own internal contemplations. Then quickly added, "I mean—no, don't go away, you should stay. I mean—we should go." She laughed embarrassedly as she shut her locker. "We should go home together."

They stepped out of the school together into the afternoon sun. Cree felt inexplicably gleeful. "You know what? I should call a teen meeting. Right now, I should call the others and see what they're up to. It's been forever since we've had one, hasn't it? It feels like forever." She fished her cell phone out of her bag and called first her sister, then Maurice. Neither of them seemed too enthusiastic, but she didn't care. _I'm the leader, they have to do what I say!_

They ambled through the school's uncrowded lawn. Chad glanced at Cree. "Um…Cree—?"

"You know what happened to me the other day?" she interrupted, finding it surprisingly natural to slip back into their old way of talking. "I had a cup of water, and out of nowhere a fly came and did a kamikaze dive into it. It wasn't soda or anything, it was just water."

Chad was silent for a moment. "Maybe it was really thirsty."

"That's what I thought too, and then I felt kind bad for the little guy, 'cause he pretty much drowned immediately. But then this morning there was a dead fly in my toothbrush cup. It's weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah," answered Chad, with a chuckle that didn't sound forced to Cree at all. "Maybe…maybe you have really sweet saliva."

She laughed and didn't notice his reddened face. "I'll consider that theory. Oh, and just last week a bee came right at me, and died right on me!" She pointed to her shoulder where it had landed. "It was freaky."

"It's kind of early for bees, isn't it?"

"I thought so too, but it happened."

Chad sighed. This time Cree did detect it, and turned to look at him. But then he smiled at her, that same old warm smile of his _(but again his eyes—are they sad?)_ and he said, "You should watch out. Some of those flies might be Delightful Spy Cameras."

"I think you're on to something. Nothing like a healthy dose of paranoia." She giggled and probably sounded silly, but she didn't care. She felt happier than she had for weeks. "You know what? I missed talking with you, too."

They walked slowly, as they always had, prattling on about the weird weather lately, the recent gossip, football, (well, Chad brought up that topic and Cree listened for as long as she could stand it before changing the subject,) and classes. One subject, or person rather, that didn't come up was Abby. Cree didn't know why, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him about their relationship. Which was odd, because she generally grabbed every chance she got to tease her little sister about Chad. He didn't mention Abby either.

When they approached her house, Cree was almost sad to see it. A part of her wanted nothing more than to continue walking with Chad. She couldn't quite say why, but something about being with him, having another one of their silly conversations, seeing him smile at her; it made her feel….

The moment she opened the door and stepped into the house Abby was coming down the stairs. Chad smiled and greeted Abby, she smiled back, and Cree completely lost her train of thought.

---

When the doorbell rang, Abby rushed to answer it. But when she opened the door to see Maurice on the other side, her eager expression faded.

"Oh, hi, Maurice."

He looked at her in annoyance. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"No, I just thought you might be Cree and Chad."

"You mean you thought I might be Chad."

"They're coming here together, you know," she answered, irritation apparent in her voice.

"I saw the way your face changed when you saw it was me at the door."

Abby grumbled in annoyance. "It's not like that. I told you I thought it would be Cree and Chad." She emphasized her sister's name.

He continued to eye her skeptically. "And you're really looking forward to seeing them?"

She frowned, carefully wording her explanation. "Well, I just thought…when she called, Cree sounded like she had an important announcement."

"What kind of announcement?"

"I don't know, the kind you suddenly call a meeting for."

"And she's got keys, why would she ring the bell?"

"I thought they might be too excited to bother," she shrugged.

"Excited about what?"

"I…I don't know; she sounded excited on the phone, don't you think? Like, happy excited."

Maurice just stared at her for a long moment. "You don't need to lie to me, Abby. If you like Chad—"

"Ugh, would you just shut up about me and Chad? I get enough of that from Cree. Look, I'm going to my room. Feel free to watch T.V. or something." She headed up the stairs, but halfway up she heard the sound of a key in the door. She turned as the door opened, and saw Cree enter with Chad just behind her. They were smiling at each other. _Does this mean that he told her?_

She headed down the stairs again, towards them. Chad looked up, still smiling, and said, "Hey, Abby." Then Cree turned, and her smile faded at the sight of her. It wasn't a good sign.

By the time Abby had reached the bottom of the stairs, Chad had apparently noticed that something was off, and he was having trouble finding the thread of his and Cree's conversation. Cree seemed distracted and didn't respond to anything he said, and he soon trailed off and stopped speaking entirely. His attention turned from her, almost wanderingly, until he made eye contact with Abby.

Abby monitored him with growing apprehension, and when their eyes met she looked away immediately. She could feel both Cree and Maurice watching them, analyzing, judging. _Do not talk to me, Chad,_ she thought urgently, _do _not_ talk to me. That would only make things worse. If you had any brain at all—_

"Oh, Abby, I almost forgot." Chad pulled a folded piece of paper out of his backpack. "My mom wanted me to give this to you." He held it out to her.

_Fool._ But she took it, defeated. What else could she do? Slap it out of his hand?

"It's her recipe for cinnamon scones," he said as she unfolded the paper. "You must have really made an impression, because she usually doesn't give out her recipes. She doesn't let me see them to me half the time."

_Chad, don't you realize that this is the stupidest possible thing you could do?_ She thought, gazing at the recipe in her hands. "Thanks, that was nice of—" 

"When did you meet Chad's mom?" Cree asked, probably trying to tease, but instead coming off as nosy.

_Now look what you've done. _"Just a little while ago."

"It was on her birthday," Chad informed.

Abby glared at him. _What he needs is a gag._

"Your birthday?" asked Cree, now in full tease mode. "I should have known you two hooked up—"

"So you're getting recipes from his mom, that's real cute," Maurice muttered to Abby, walking over to peer at the piece of paper. "Sugar…butter…eggs…. Well, that explains her ass. _Mega_ Mom is right, you know what I mean?"

There was silence as the other three stared at him.

"Did…you just insult my mom?" Chad's voice held more disbelief than anything else.

Maurice met his eyes coolly. "No, I just indirectly stated that she has a fat ass."

Chad regarded him with a neutral expression. In fact, he almost seemed to be smirking slightly. But his eyes were flinty. Several seconds passed before he threw the first punch. Maurice was expecting it and dodged it easily, moving back and slightly to his right, and returned a swing of his own. Chad blocked it with his left and moved in with his right, only to be blocked in turn. Maurice lunged forward in an attempt to shove him away and gain some time and distance, but Chad held his ground and finally managed to land his fist in the other's stomach. Maurice returned the favor immediately, his left fist making contact with Chad's jaw.

Abby stared at the ridiculous display incredulously. Knowing both of their motivations made it all the more absurd. She almost felt like laughing, but the whole situation was in truth more pathetically stupid than laugh-out-loud funny.

She didn't really know how long the fight lasted, but it was certainly measured in seconds, not minutes. It had quickly devolved into a kind of wrestling match, each of them attempting and not succeeding in getting the other into a lock. Regardless of the lack of any serious damage, it was pretty clear that each was out for blood.

It ended with a draw; Cree stepped in and pulled the two of them apart easily, grabbing each by the scruff of their shirts as if they were no more than a couple of petulant children.

Abby smiled, almost proud. _Cree really is better than those other two put together._

"What is the matter with you?" Cree admonished once she had separated them.

"He started it," grumbled Maurice.

"Yeah, after you _insulted his mom._ What were you thinking?"

He looked sullenly away.

"I think you should go home," Cree ordered.

"You're the one who called the meet—"

"Go. Home."

Maurice did as he was told and stalked away.

"And you," Cree said, turning on Chad. "You shouldn't be offended so easily. Clearly Maurice was in a bad mood and was looking for a fight, and you played right into his hands."

"Yeah," he admitted grumpily.

"I think you should go home too."

"But—"

"You heard me."

With a sigh, Chad plodded out the door.

Once he left, Cree flopped onto the couch with a groan. "What the hell was that?"

"Too much testosterone?" shrugged Abby.

"If our boyfriends keep fighting like this, this isn't going to work."

Abby didn't know whether to laugh or groan in frustration. _What a mess. Teens are so stupid…._

_---  
---_

author's notes: whoo-hoo for lame fight scenes! heh, i suck at fight scenes, but this one actually was supposed to be lame, so it all works out, right?


	24. regret

Abby was brushing her hair when she heard a knock on the door.

"Abby, it's me, can I come in?"

"Sure."

Cree entered. "So I was thinking of trying for another teen meeting tomorrow. Do you think the boys can handle being in the same room together?"

"If not we can just sit back and enjoy the slap fight," Abby grinned.

"We should really sell tickets or something."

"We'd make a killing."

Cree chuckled.

Abby struggled with a stubborn tangle and muttered to herself. "Ugh, stupid hair."

"Here, let me help you with that," her sister offered, reaching forward to take the brush from Abby's hands.

"Thanks. Long hair's such a pain sometimes. I've been thinking of chopping it off."

"Really? I've been thinking of growing mine out. Besides, you have beautiful hair. Has Chad seen you with your hair down yet?" She asked, her voice becoming impish.

"Of course not. Why would he?"

"I bet he'd melt at the sight of you. You should wear it down for your next date."

"Cree, how many times do I have to tell you that Chad and I are _not_ dating?"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop teasing you. I know you like to keep your secrets."

Abby sighed. _I wish Chad would just tell her already before I throttle her._

"You should at least wear that shirt I gave you on your next date."

"Cree…" Abby said threateningly.

"I'm shutting up now, I promise!" she laughed as she put down the brush and started braiding her little sister's hair.

_Chad did try to kiss me when I was wearing that shirt, but I don't think it had anything to do with what I was wearing._ She looked up at her older sister's reflection in the mirror before her. _I wonder if you'd encourage me to wear it if you knew that?_ She studied her sister's face as she braided her hair. She looked happy. She seemed happier ever since she patched up her friendship with Chad…if that was the word for it. And yet…Abby was fairly certain that what her sister felt for Chad was more than friendship. _So why is she still with Maurice? Why does she keep pushing Chad and me together?_

"Sis," Abby started tentatively, "I'm…glad you've been happier lately."

Cree looked up and met her sister's eyes through the mirror.

Abby was thankful, it somehow made it easier to talk to her. This way she could see her own face exactly the way Cree was seeing it. "For a while there, it seemed like you were really depressed."

"Yeah…. For a while there, I was."

"But you're okay now?"

Cree smiled. "Yeah, I'm good now."

"So is it…because…?" She stopped and considered. She didn't want to cause another breakdown in Cree and Chad's relationship. But she really wanted to know what was going on in her sister's head. _Why was she so sad then? Why is she okay now? Does she really want Chad and me to be together, or does she want Chad for herself?_ "So…why are you happy now?"

Her sister laughed and returned her attention to braiding Abby's hair. "And you say _I'm_ the nosy one." She braided in silence for a little while. "I don't know. I guess it's because you and Chad are dating now."

Abby stared at her sister's face through the mirror, and could clearly see the confusion and disbelief in her own. "…really?"

Cree chuckled. "Well, that's part of it." She still focused on braiding. "It's kind of complicated. You see, it's because you and Chad are dating that I can be friends with him again."

"I don't follow you."

Cree sighed then laughed a little then smiled contemplatively. "Well…I guess I should say…and don't be angry with me, but you were right back then; I did sort of have a crush on Chad. He's my best friend, and he's cute, and it just sort of happened. But I'm dating Maurice, and when I realized that I had a crush on Chad—a little, tiny one, mind you—I felt that I couldn't be friends with him anymore, because…I don't know, it just wouldn't be right. But now you're dating him," she said, brightening, looking up to see her sister's reflection. "So now everything's okay."

Abby shook her head slightly. "How does that make everything okay?"

Cree was finishing the braid. She reached for the band to hold it in place. "Because now that you're dating Chad, I know that nothing will ever happen between him and me. Because he's your boyfriend, so now it doesn't matter what silly little crush I used to have on him—which is ancient history, by the way—because you're my sister, and I love you, and I'd never, _ever_ do anything as horrible as getting involved with your boyfriend. I wouldn't." And then she beamed at her sister and hugged her tight.

"But…." Abby could see it in her own face—her uncertainty, her frustration, her remorse. _So does that mean if she knew the truth…?_ "So you wouldn't be friends with Chad if you thought I wasn't dating him? Even though he's your best friend? Even though you're miserable without him?"

Her sister laughed. "Miserable without him? You make it sound as if I were in love with him or something." She stood back and admired her sister's hair, now bound in a long braid. "It looks good," she commented, "but consider wearing it down for _special occasions, _you know?" She winked and headed for the door. "And don't forget the meeting after school tomorrow."

Abby sighed and shook her head. Cree's logic was so flawed and so precariously balanced, if she tried to set things right all she'd end up with is the emotional equivalent of an avalanche.

_Why don't you just dump Maurice? _She thought furiously. _Can't you see he doesn't even like you?_ But the one she was really angry with was herself. She bit down hard on her lower lip and turned away from the mirror, not wanting to look at herself any longer. Her sister's words ran through her head:

"_I'd never, ever do anything as horrible as getting involved with your boyfriend."_

Abby remembered her pathetic, awkward kiss with Maurice, months and months ago. Cree may have betrayed the Kids Next Door, but she herself betrayed her own sister.

_I'm a horrible person._

---

During their next walk together, Cree had decided not to bring up the last incident with Chad and Maurice. Not surprisingly, Chad didn't either.

Cree was glad to be able to talk with Chad again. For a while it seemed she had lost her best friend. And while their conversation covered almost any topic imaginable—reality T.V. shows, whether Braille had an Asian language version, what the mystery meat was in the school's shepherd's pie—neither of them ever brought up the subject of significant others. It was understandable in Chad's case; he didn't like Maurice, why would he bring him up in a conversation? But Cree sort of felt she should be doing her sisterly duties and nosing around, finding out what he feels for Abby, if his "intentions were honorable" and all that. And she meant to, time and time again. But she kept putting it off, or the conversation went another way, or she just plain forgot. Anyways, she was certain that Chad meant well. After all, she knew him, he'd never do anything to hurt her sister. So it was okay that she never talked to him about their relationship. Wasn't it?

They entered her house together and stepped into the living room.

"Abby?" Cree called. "Are you here?"

"Yeah," they heard her voice from upstairs.

"How about Maurice?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well, Chad's here, so you should come down. We'll start the meeting as soon as Maurice gets here." She turned to Chad. "You can sit down. I was thinking of having the meeting in the living room for a change. Cozier, don't you think?"

"I guess?" he replied.

"I'm going to fetch some things from my room. Be right back!" She dashed up the stairs as Abby was headed down them.

"Where are you going?" asked Abby.

"To my room to get my notes."

"You have notes?"

"Of course, I'm not leader for nothing." Cree stuck her tongue out. "Well, actually, they're old notes. And I kind of forgot where I put them," she admitted. "But I'm sure I'll find them soon!"

"Good luck," Abby replied flatly.

She walked into the living room where Chad had just found the T.V. remote and was settling down on the couch.

"Hi, Abby," he said, glancing up at her.

"Hi," she mumbled, plopping herself down on the other end of the couch.

She noticed him look at the remote, then at her, then back at the remote again.

"Go ahead and watch T.V."

"Uh, no, I was just…holding this," he faltered, and put the remote down on the coffee table. He turned to her. "Are you doing okay?"

"Sure," she said in a tone that didn't sound okay at all.

Chad frowned and stared at the remote control again. But focusing on Abby, he asked, "So…how are classes?"

Abby let out a sort of half-laugh. "Thanks for the effort, but don't bother." She looked towards the stairs and scooted closer to Chad. "I take it you haven't said anything to Cree yet?" she questioned in a low voice.

"Not yet. But I will—"

"That's the thing," she interrupted. "I…don't know if you should."

"What? But you're the one that's been pushing me to tell—"

"I know, but…." She paused and sighed. "Maybe you're right, maybe it would mess everything up. Maybe…I don't know, maybe it would be better to leave things alone."

Chad stared at her for several long seconds. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? You don't seem to be."

Abby looked at him, almost suspiciously. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I don't think so." He spoke slowly and seriously. "I know we haven't had that many conversations, and I guess we don't really know each other that well, but in the past you've only given me good advice and everything you've said has always made sense. But this doesn't."

She lowered her eyes, wincing as if in pain. "You don't understand. _I_ didn't understand. I still don't. It's just…everything's so complicated."

Chad listened to her then continued talking at a ponderous pace as if each word were carefully weighed and considered before being spoken. "Yes…and no. I think…I know, actually, that I've been over-thinking all this. But when it comes down to it, it boils down to this—I love Cree, and I need to tell her. Everything else is irrelevant. I…I just need to get the courage to say the words. But once I do—once I find the right time and finally tell her—then everything…should be all right." It wasn't phrased as a question, but Abby could feel his eyes asking for her to corroborate.

She continued to stare at the floor, wishing she could feel as optimistic. But it wasn't her job to crush his hopes. "Yeah…I guess you're right," was all she could think of to say.

Chad studied her. "Do you want to talk? I hear people say I'm good to talk to." He smiled slightly.

She laughed a little, very little, and said, "I…I…don't know." She met his eyes for a moment then looked away again. "I just…." She trailed off.

"It's okay, you don't have to. But if you ever want to…."

"Maybe." She looked back at him and managed a smile. "Not now, though. I don't think I'm ready to. Not quite yet."

---

Cree stood pressed against the wall of the stairwell, hidden from view, eyes shut tight, hands clutching her forgotten notes to her chest. She had seen something she probably wasn't supposed to see. She had found the notes and had headed back downstairs and caught a glimpse of her sister and Chad sitting together on the couch. She couldn't see Abby's face, but she could see Chad's perfectly. He was gazing at Abby intently, whispering words to her in a voice too low for Cree to hear. I looked like he was confessing his love to her.

Her hands pressed against her painfully pounding chest, as if to hold her heart still. _I'm happy for them. I really am…._

She gasped in surprise when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," she called in a strangled voice, forcing herself to descend the rest of the stairs, straightening the crumpled notes. She opened the front door to see her boyfriend on the other side, and couldn't understand why the sight of him wasn't a comfort.


	25. betrayal

author's notes: sorry for taking so long to update this! especially since, once again, it's supposed to take place fairly soon after the last chapter. i'll hopefully get the next chapter up sooner. and it is getting close to the end...really!

---  
---

"You feeling okay?" Chad asked Cree as they walked to her house. "You seem kind of quiet."

"Huh? Uh—no," she answered. "I mean—I'm fine. I'm just…thinking about the meeting. We didn't really come up with any ideas for missions last time."

"Yeah, I guess we didn't." In truth, not much had been discussed in the last meeting at all. Cree had seemed even more distracted then than she did now.

"But I'll wait until the meeting to worry about that," Cree said with a brighter expression. "What were we talking about again?"

"Football."

Cree's cheery demeanor faded at the word, and Chad laughed. "You weren't listening to me at all, were you?"

"Sure I was," she insisted. "You were talking about the team…with the…things…. Oh, look here we are," she announced, hastening to her front door and pulling out her keys. "I was thinking of having the meeting in the dining room today. More formal, don't you think?"

---

Maurice slouched against the tall, hard-backed chair, which wasn't actually easy or comfortable to do. Why Cree had decided to have the meeting in the dining room, he had no idea. _She could've at least given us a meal while we're here,_ he thought to himself, but of course she never did when they had their meetings in the kitchen, so he supposed he should have expected it.

The last meeting had been in the living room; Maurice didn't understand the reasoning behind that, either, but it was never his job to question these things. Not out loud, at least. It had been a completely pointless meeting, no ideas on fighting the KND or making kids' lives generally miserable were thought up at all, so it was all just a waste of time. Of course that technically was a good thing. But Maurice couldn't help but wonder what his purpose there was if Cree wasn't much of a threat anymore.

This meeting was turning out very similarly to the last one. He glanced over at Cree, who sat at the head of the table with her notes spread out before her. She kept smoothing out the papers in front of her. Sure they were a little wrinkled, but Maurice didn't understand why she kept compulsively flattening them. Not that he cared. As long as she wasn't looking at him, that's all that really mattered. Because that meant that he could look across the table at Abby.

Of course he shouldn't be looking at her. She certainly wasn't looking at him. She hardly looked at him at all. _(Did she ever used to look at me?) _At least she wasn't looking at Chad, who was sitting next to her. Maurice gave him a cursory glance; he seemed to be looking at Cree, playing the part of supportive team member or whatever. Maurice didn't care.

His eyes wandered back to Abby. She looked bored, but not quite as bored as he felt. He wondered: _If I stare at her long enough, will she look at me?_

Maurice's experiment ended prematurely, however, when Cree said, "I'm completely out of ideas," and flopped against the back of her chair. He then had no choice but to focus again on Cree.

"We've already done Rainbow Monkeys, Yipper Cards, and Chewy Pellets. Though we still don't know what went wrong with the Chewy Pellet operation." Cree frowned and tilted her head. "Well? Do you guys have any ideas?" She turned to Abby. "Anything?"

She deferred the question by asking, "We had a Yipper Card mission?"

"Yeah, it was before your time."

"Oh," she nodded.

"How about you?" she turned to Maurice.

He had to drag himself back to the topic at hand. _Dammit, why are you asking me? _He avoided the question by stating, "I thought it was the leader's job to come up with missions."

She frowned slightly at him. "You can't expect me to come up with all of them. Even back when we were in Sector—." She cut herself off and sighed.

Maurice looked away uncomfortably. Lately he didn't want to think about their past in Sector V. He was glad that she thought he didn't remember them. Besides, the only mission he ever came up with back then was the chickenpox one, and he especially didn't want to think about that one.

Cree was then addressing Chad. "How about you?"

He seemed to think for a moment then ventured, "Soda?"

Cree shook her head. "Ever since they raised the drinking age to thirteen, if we did anything to soda we'd probably be messing with more teens than kids."

They all fell silent. Cree smoothed out her notes again.

"We could always try to destroy Moonbase again."

Maurice looked up to scrutinize Chad warily, but Cree only laughed.

"The old standby," Cree said. "But we've tried that so many times now, and I swear it just keeps getting bigger."

It was true enough. Numbuh 362 seemed to be making a lot of upgrades to Moonbase lately.

Chad commented, "I still think that Moonbase must have a self-destruct button somewhere. I mean, everything else does, why not Moonbase?"

"That is pretty flawless logic," Cree grinned at him.

"How about Kid's Meals?" suggested Abby.

Cree turned to her. "You mean like Burger Frenzy?"

"No, like actual meals for kids. We could target those."

Maurice coughed loudly, and everyone turned to stare at him.

"'Scuse me," he muttered.

"So what did you have in mind?" Cree asked, focusing again on her sister.

"Well, I was thinking we could promote all that health junk that parents are so into these days. Like tell them to make broccoli sandwiches instead of hamburgers, and a side of brussel sprouts instead of fries."

Maurice stared at Abby in disbelief. "What are you doing?" he demanded before he caught himself and hastily added, "…this weekend?" while turning to Cree.

His "girlfriend" regarded him quizzically. "I don't know, Honey, but we'll talk about it later, okay?" She turned back to Abby. "That's not a bad idea, what were you thinking in terms of execution?"

Abby crossed her arms in thought. "I'm not quite sure yet. We can either go at it from a corporate angle and incite parents into demanding healthy kids' meals from fast food places, or we can take a more direct approach and put the new menu items in the fast food joints ourselves, and make them seem officially sanctioned…?"

Maurice was watching her with growing horror, but Cree smiled, looking proud. "You seem to have some ideas on the subject. How'd you like to be leader of this mission?"

Abby stared, surprised. "Really?"

"Yes," her sister beamed. "Of course I'll help you out if you need it, but I'll only be second-in-command. I'll leave the planning, the delegation of duties, everything up to you. Do you think you're up for it?"

She seemed to consider for a moment. "Yeah, sounds like it might be fun."

"Great!" Cree said. "It's settled. Then you get to call the next meeting. Though as second-in-command, I suggest that you make it in the next few days so you don't lose momentum."

The sisters continued to chatter as Maurice glared at them. More specifically, he was glaring at Abby. _What is she thinking? She isn't seriously considering running an anti-kid operation?_ As he looked intently at her, he wished more than anything that he could trust her.

---

_Sabotaging my own mission is harder that I thought it would be,_ mused Abby as she stood on the roof of the local Rusty Burger. She searched the area with night-vision binoculars and saw no one around aside from her team, awaiting her signal from a clump of scrawny-looking bushes that didn't do much to hide them.

Fairly certain that she could see them far better than they could see her, she took the opportunity to spy on her team. Cree was looking up at her, but in a way that made it clear that she couldn't quite see her. She appeared somewhat apprehensive; Abby figured it was because her big sister didn't have complete confidence that she could run a mission by herself, in spite of all Cree's supportive words. It was kind of aggravating, especially since Abby knew that the mission would have to end in failure, which would only confirm Cree's doubts. But Abby knew what she was getting into when she signed up for this operation, and it wasn't like she really wanted to be leader of a teen unit anyways.

Just next to her sister was Chad, who was gazing at Cree rather blatantly. But the moment she turned in his direction he looked away abruptly. Abby laughed. It was amazing that Cree hadn't figured something out just from the way he was always staring at her.

Cree said something to Chad, he nodded and replied and looked away again. This time Abby caught her sister's eyes lingering on Chad for a while after he had turned away. Then Chad peeked in Cree's direction, they made accidental eye contact, and then they both looked away immediately, making rapid, awkward conversation. Abby laughed again, but this time it was followed with a sigh. She supposed that she would have to leave the two of them to figure things out for themselves.

On the other side of Cree, quite some distance away from the other two, was Maurice. He was wearing a rather sour expression, but that was normal for him lately. Abby knew this because she was far better at the staring game than either Cree or Chad was. But even after the days, weeks even, of careful observation, she wasn't entirely sure if his grouchiness was directly related to her. Lately her conversations with him had gone badly enough that she had been avoiding talking with him, only exchanging a few words here and there. She hadn't discussed this mission with him at all. It was very possible that he resented being out of the loop, but he hadn't made much of an effort to communicate with her, either.

She sighed and put away the binoculars. It was time to get down to business. She signaled her team with a small flashlight, and they were quick to react. Cree rushed to the restaurant's back door and easily picked the lock. There was no alarm, as Chad had verified in an earlier recon assignment. After Cree gave the all clear, Chad and Maurice charged in, each towing large, heavy sacks.

Abby jumped down from the roof (with help from her jet pack) to join them, and found Cree and Chad scouting the kitchen while Maurice stood staring in her direction.

Cree walked over to her boyfriend. "You could at least pretend to be helping," she commented as she grabbed the large, misshapen bag beside him.

"I'm the lookout," he said dismissively. "Look, here comes Abby."

Cree turned. "Hi, Boss," she greeted. "Where do you want these?" She indicated the large bags.

"The fridge," replied her sister. The bags were filled with broccoli and brussel sprouts, tens of pounds of them. Where they came from or how they were paid for, Abby had no idea, just as she was never quite certain who funded the Kids Next Door missions. It was never really her business.

As Cree and Chad hauled the goods into the giant, walk-in refrigerator, Abby smirked as the idea to lock the two of them in there together crossed her mind. She shook her head slightly. _I'm starting to think like Cree,_ she thought to herself. But she couldn't help but wonder if, put in that situation, they would huddle together for warmth. Abby counted herself lucky that Cree hadn't tried that particular plan on Chad and herself.

Her smile faded when she turned to see Maurice watching her with a grim expression. He seemed to have that effect on her lately—smiles turned to frowns whenever he was around. She forced a grin. "You know, we should empty the cash registers while we're here," she joked.

He stared.

"I'm kidding," she said, disappointed that she even had to make that clarification. She stifled a sigh. "Well, I guess we're about done here." She took the "official orders" from Burger Frenzy Headquarters and placed them where they'd be easily found.

Maurice stepped forward to look at it. "Otay ebay roay otnay otay ebay…?" he read aloud. "What is this?"

"Hamlet's Soliloquy in pig latin," Abby shrugged. "I decided to go for something quasi-educational."

Maurice gaped at it, then at Abby.

"They'll find this in the morning, realize it's gibberish, and then throw it away. I don't know what they'll do with all that broccoli and brussel sprouts, probably put it in their salads or something. What?" she asked, realizing that Maurice was gawking at her oddly.

"So…you mean…this was all…?"

"What?" repeated Abby, detecting his disbelief all too clearly. "You didn't…you didn't think I was actually—"

"Stop right there, teenagers! We've got you surrounded!"

Abby froze not so much at the words, but at the voice. She turned with a slow, sick dread to see what she fully expected to see. It didn't make it any easier.

The four remaining members of Sector V stood just inside the doorway, each training their 2x4 technology weapons on their supposed enemies.

Abby could only stare at them. She couldn't move or speak. It felt as though her stomach had suddenly turned to lead. She missed each and every one of them so much. Just a few months ago she would be standing there with them. But now….

Nigel, still with his weapon pointed at her, took two cautious steps towards his former teammate. "Okay, listen up, teens, this is what we're going to do. You're going to give us that paper and whatever else you've planted here, and we'll let you go on your way."

Even in her current state Abby knew that negotiation wasn't a common KND tactic, and that he was making an exception for her. She looked down at the paper in her hands. If he saw it, then maybe….

But before she could do anything, she heard someone call, "Abby!" and immediately afterwards a laser blast knocked Numbuh One against the wall. An instant later the room was filled with mustard, carrots, and laser fire.

Cree, Chad, and the current members of Sector V were embroiled in messy battle. Abby just stared at the chaos in horror, frozen in indecision. She didn't even notice when someone came and stood right in front of her, until a SPLANKER was aimed right at her face.

"Give up…teenager…." The voice was trying, and not succeeding, to sound tough. Abby looked past the shaking weapon directly before her to see Wally. He was crying.

"Numbuh Four…" was all she managed to say before he was kicked away by Cree.

"Abby! What are you doing? Let's get out of here!"

Her older sister grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Abby stumbled on rubble and shattered tile on the way out; the place had been demolished.

She was dragged out into the night air. She strained to turn and see behind her—smoke was streaming out the back door of the fast food joint. She saw Maurice run out, then Chad. Cree activated her jet boots, her hand still firmly around Abby's wrist, and before she knew it, she was airborne.

"Wait—wait!" she cried, still staring at the doorway. Then she saw them; one, two, three, four figures ran out, safe, if not unharmed. Abby sighed; in relief, disappointment, and she didn't know what else.

The four teens alighted in the Lincoln's back yard.

"Abby, are you okay?" her sister asked softly.

"I'm fine," she answered, turning to walk into the house.

Someone stood in her way. "Abby," Maurice murmured, "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"How could you?" she snapped in a low, strangled voice, tears welling in her eyes. _"How could you?"_

Then she ran from him, blindly, and smashed directly into Chad. He looked at her tear-streaked face and didn't say a word. She finally broke down, sobbing into his shirt, and he silently put his arms around her and held her tight.


	26. talk

author's notes: i guess i should a spoiler warning for CAKED-FIVE on this chapter. though i guess it's not really all that spoiler-y. it involves Numbuh 86 gossip. also, for those of you who haven't seen DIAPER, Numbuh Five casually mentions having an older brother in that episode. i wonder if he'll ever be on the show? anyways, this chapter is a direct continuation of last chapter. so i hope you remember what happened in it. :P

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---

Abby's face was pressed against Chad's chest, her tears soaking through his shirt. Her body continued to shake from the violent emotions raging inside her small frame, yet somehow Chad's arms around her had a steadying, calming effect that slowly but surely soothed her inner turmoil. At that moment, Abby didn't care what anyone else was thinking. She didn't care that Maurice was probably mentally adding this to his list of evidence against her, she didn't care that this would only confirm Cree's belief that she and Chad were a couple. She didn't even care what wrong message she might be sending to Chad, who, after all, did once try to kiss her. All she cared about at that moment was that she needed to be comforted, and right then, clinging to Chad did just that.

Eventually her sobbing ceased, and she was able to breathe steadily. It was then that she once again started to care what others were thinking. She lifted her head from Chad's chest, and he slowly released his grasp on her. She felt her cheeks reddening and found that she couldn't look up at his face. She embarrassedly brushed at his damp shirt, as if her tears could be swept away like lint or cat hair.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't apologize," he answered softly.

Abby took a breath to brace herself and peered up at him. He was gazing down at her with a concerned expression, which somehow made her feel more self-conscious.

With a tiny gasp she suddenly remembered Cree and Maurice; she could almost feel them staring at the two of them; Maurice glaring, Cree with that knowing grin she always wore whenever Abby and Chad interacted. She turned abruptly and was surprised to see no one. Neither Cree nor Maurice was standing behind her. There was only her hat on the ground near her feet.

"They left," Chad informed her in a rather obvious statement as he bent down to retrieve her hat.

Abby turned back to him.

"The invitation to talk is still open."

"I…um…" she hedged. And for a moment she wondered if Cree were right after all; maybe she and Chad--

But then he smiled, grinned, rather, and plopped her hat on her head, pulling it down over her eyes. "Whenever you're ready, okay?"

Abby laughed and swatted his hand away, her previous thought dismissed, then adjusted her hat and looked up at Chad with an open smile. Something about him at that moment reminded her of her big brother, long since moved away. But even more, he reminded her of Cree, back when she was leader of Sector V.

"Okay," she nodded. "I will. Thanks."

---

Maurice didn't know what to think when he saw Abby throw herself into Chad's arms. He supposed he should have expected it. But that didn't make the sight of them together any less painful. It was his own fault, anyways. _I should have trusted her._ He knew he should have, even as he called the Covert Teen Headquarters to report suspicious teen activity. _But I didn't report her directly—that counts for something, right? And how was I supposed to know that Sector V would be sent?_ But he knew he was just making excuses. He should have talked to her. This pain was no less than he deserved. Even still, when he saw Cree enter the house, he followed her. Anything so he wouldn't have to see the two of them.

The kitchen was still too close. It was as if the two of them, Abby and Chad, together, was a presence that could be felt, even through walls. He pushed through the kitchen door into the living room. He heard Cree follow behind him.

"She loves him, doesn't she?" Maurice had never imagined that he would find himself wishing he were Chad.

"I'm happy for them," was Cree's quiet reply.

Both of them were too absorbed in their own thoughts to notice anything unusual about the other's words.

---

Chad and Abby sat outside of Müller's Deli, each with their respectively paid for sandwiches. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, but fortunately it wasn't too crowded.

"It's weird," Abby said, "calling up someone with the specific purpose of talking to that person. Because when you're calling to talk, you're technically already talking."

"True," replied Chad, "but you might say the call is for a chat, rather than an actual talk."

"I guess so," she said with a small grin then took a bite out of her sandwich so she wouldn't have to say anything for at least a little while. Even though she was the one to call him to talk, she suddenly found that she had no idea where to start. She also began wondering if talking to Chad was a wise idea after all.

She peered over at Chad, who was eating in silence as well, gazing out into the street. Abby wondered if he were doing so to give her time to start the conversation, patiently biding his time, or if he were actually lost in his own thoughts. Knowing him, it was probably the former. Chad was one of the nicest people she knew. Which was strange, because even back when he was Supreme Leader of the Kids Next Door, he always seemed rather cold and distant. And before she "joined" the teens, she thought he was a stuck-up jerk. She speculated if he had changed over the years, or if he was always this way and she never noticed until now. _Or maybe,_ she considered further, _he's nice to me because he's in love with my sister._

"How's your sandwich?" Chad finally broke the silence.

"Pretty good. Though they went a little heavy on the mustard."

"Yeah, they do that sometimes." He paused for another moment and continued on a completely different subject. "You know, I haven't seen the members of my former sector in years."

Abby turned to look at him, but he was still staring out to the street.

"Unless you count Kenny, but he's kind of in a category by himself," he chuckled, referring to the reunion fiasco that Cree had attempted to set up a while back. "But yeah, Jessie was about your age, she might be decommissioned by now. Brian was younger, so he should still be an operative unless he got himself killed, which, knowing him, is pretty likely."

Abby listened with interest; she knew very little about his former sector, Q, though she had heard rumors that they had split up just before Chad became Supreme Leader.

"I guess technically the Moonbase officers were my sector too. But I never really got too close to them. I did work with Numbuh 362 a lot. It was pretty clear she was next in line. But I wouldn't really call her a friend. Same goes for 86. We worked together, but we weren't friends, so now when she comes by every once in a while to try to decommission me, it's not that big a deal."

Abby saw where he was going with the conversation now. But she still wasn't sure she was ready to talk about it. Instead she said, "So Fanny comes after you, too? Just last week she tried to corner me in the girls' locker room."

Chad looked at her with a pseudo-shocked expression. "Did she? I've heard the rumors about 86, but I never really knew…."

She laughed. "Get your mind out of the gutter; you know that's not what I meant."

"I'm just saying…I've heard rumors…."

"Besides, she had a crush on Numbuh Four."

"Did she?"

"And she kissed that nineteenth century guy."

"Wait—who?"

Abby knew that she probably should be having a more serious discussion with Chad, but gossiping about Fanny was easier, and a hell of lot more fun.

"…so I unlock the cell and walk in to see Fanny kissing—"

Abby's cell phone suddenly rang. "Damn, right at the good part, too," she heard Chad snicker as she answered it.

"Talk to me. Oh, hi, Sis. Nothing much. Oh, now?" She glanced at her watch. "I guess not. Okay, see you then." She turned to Chad. "Do you have your cell phone?"

"Um…yeah," he answered, fishing around in his pocket.

"Cree should be calling you soon."

And sure enough, his phone rang right then. "Hello? Hey, Cree, what's—? Oh, I was just having lunch with—"

He was interrupted by a sharp elbow in his ribs. He turned to see Abby shaking her head violently.

"I was just having lunch," he corrected himself, glaring at Abby reproachfully as he rubbed his injured side. But then he smiled at a comment from Cree, glancing down at his sandwich. "Yeah, what if I am? I do not eat too much bologna. Well, you eat too much yogurt."

Abby consumed her sandwich and watched Chad as he talked to her sister. There was a different energy about him, almost a glow, that he had only when interacting with Cree. It was sweet...and kind of pathetic. She let out a short laugh—that was just a little mocking—and immediately tried to disguise it as a cough.

Chad turned to her, almost surprised, as if he had forgotten she was there. "Oh—I'm sorry," he said, and Abby was uncertain who he was addressing that to. "Cree, I gotta go now, but I'll see you soon. Okay, bye." He put his phone away and turned to Abby. "I'm sorry, that was really rude of me. So I guess Cree just told you that we're having a meeting in half an hour?"

He noticed Abby smirking at him.

"What?"

"You're in looooove with Creeeee," she said, drawing out the vowels in a taunting manner.

Chad furrowed his brows at her. "Yeah? So what are you gonna do about it?" he asked with exaggerated defensiveness.

"When are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know…soon. Besides, weren't we supposed to be talking about you?"

"We were, but we got sidetracked talking about Fanny and that girly-boy she was kissing. Anyways, she decommissioned him, so it's not like their relationship has much of a future. Like a certain other relationship won't if someone doesn't talk to Cree," she added pointedly.

Chad's only reply was to take a large bite of his sandwich, a tactic that Abby had already used herself and therefore could see through easily.

"Seriously," she badgered, "why haven't you told her yet?"

"Haven't we had this conversation already?"

"So I'm guessing the answer to why you haven't said anything is the same? Cowardice?"

"Exactly."

"Hmph." Abby stood up. "Well, I guess I'll head home now. But you should stay and finish your lunch."

"Hold on, I'm almost done." He jammed the remainder of his sandwich in his mouth and stood as well. "We can walk together," he said, mouth full. Swallowing hard, he continued in a clearer tone, "that way I can bug _you_ about _your_ personal life."

"Um, that's okay, I was thinking of running an errand before the meeting."

"I'll join you."

"Uh…here's the thing…I don't want people getting the wrong impression, and if we get back to my home at the same time, people _will_ be getting the wrong impression, if you know what I mean."

From the expression on Chad's face, he clearly didn't know what she meant.

"It's for your own good, too, Chad. Cree already thinks we're dating, and if we arrive home together it'll only confirm her suspicions."

"Cree thinks we're dating?" he asked, baffled.

"What planet are you on? Weren't you there that day we were at Romantic Burger?"

"Yeah, but that was so long ago, and she hasn't said anything since. I kind of think she was kidding back then or something."

"What? She hasn't said anything to you about it since?" Abby gaped at him. "Not a day goes by without her teasing me about us dating! I deny it every time but she just won't stop!"

"Really? And you're sure she's not joking?"

"Positive!"

"Huh…okay," he said, doubt clear in his voice. "Well, if it means that much to you, I'll give you a five minute head start." He looked at his watch, trying to suppress a grin. "Starting…now. See you later." He waved.

Abby gave him a dirty look before walking away.

---

Abby arrived home ten minutes before the meeting was due to start. She decided to go to her room to lay low for a while; she was already regretting agreeing to the meeting at all.

She saw Cree in the hall.

"Oh, good, you're back already. I was thinking, it's so nice out, why don't we have the meeting outside in the backyard today? We have some lawn chairs in the garage, don't we?"

"I don't know. I think so. I'm going to my room for a bit. Call me when you want to start the meeting."

"Oh, okay," Cree said, but then paused. "Wait, Abby, there's something on your shirt." She walked up to her and pointed at a yellowish stain. "What is that, mustard?"

Abby looked down. Sure enough, there was a blob of mustard on her shirt.

Cree grinned, putting two and two together with surprising speed. "You know, I think Chad was just eating lunch at Müller's…."

Abby groaned tiredly. "Ugh, why, _why_ do you always do that?"

"Do what?" Cree asked innocently.

Abby glared at her sister through narrowed eyes. "You're just trying to trip me up. How many times do I need to tell you that I'm not dating Chad?"

"All I did was infer that both you and Chad seemed to be eating sandwiches today. But your overreaction seems highly suspicious."

With a final groan of frustration, Abby entered her room and slammed the door shut behind her.

Cree lingered at Abby's door, the smirk on her face gradually fading. She sighed. She'd never admit it, but one of the reasons she kept teasing Abby about her relationship with Chad was because somewhere, deep inside her, she enjoyed hearing her sister deny it.


	27. truth

author's notes: once again i've taken too long to update. sorry about that, i'll try to do better next time!

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It became increasingly apparent as the meeting went on that Cree called it simply as an excuse to hang out in the back yard in lawn chairs. Or rather, Cree, Abby, and Maurice each had lawn chairs; Chad was left with a regular chair from the kitchen because there were only three. There were probably better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon, but Cree didn't seem to be aware of it. At least this time she provided sodas.

"…and the only other idea I have is to steal the Delightful Children's cake from them before the KND get to it. Which would be funny in theory, but is probably more trouble than it's worth. Plus I can never remember when the next birthday is." She dropped her notes on the grass and stretched.

"So does this mean the meeting's over?" Maurice asked.

"Um…unless you guys have anything else to add?" Cree looked at her boyfriend, who avoided her eyes. She then turned to Abby, but remembering the last mission upon seeing her sister's uncomfortable expression, focused quickly on Chad. "Anything?" she asked.

"We can make them all sit in your backyard in a regular chair instead of a lawn chair," he deadpanned.

Cree made a face at him. "It's your own fault for getting here late. What's the matter, did all the mayo and bologna slow you down?"

"Not at all. I was attacked by rabid squirrels on the way over." In truth he had been attacked by none other than Numbuh 86, who was attempting once again to capture and decommission him. Chad had been in a rather inane mood at the time, and asked her about "that girly Nineteenth Century guy," which turned out to be a mistake. Chad discovered (though he should have already known) that Fanny was even more vicious when teased about her love life. And after that encounter, Chad had to go home to change because he was covered in mustard.

That Chad reeked of the substance that Cree had found on her shirt made Abby very aggravated.

"So any serious ideas?" Cree prodded.

Chad pondered. "Releasing all the prisoners from the Antarctic Base?"

"That's so been done before."

"Then I don't know; let's just give them wedgies and take their pocket money."

Cree laughed. "Okay, I guess this is a waste of time. Meeting's adjourned. But let's have another one same time next week."

Abby quickly stood and without a word to anyone, entered the house. Maurice also stood and lingered a moment. Cree, however, just stretched and settled back in her chair.

"Um…" mumbled Maurice. "See you."

"Okay, later, Honey," she replied as she leaned back, closing her eyes.

Chad watched as Maurice left and then focused back on Cree. He wondered if he should feel guilty for enjoying their apparent lack of affection. He stood and walked over to the lawn chair that Abby had just vacated, the one closest to Cree's.

"This seat taken?"

She opened her eyes. "What are you still doing here?"

"I just wanted to see what I was missing," he said, sitting down

"You still stink of mustard; did you shower in it or something?"

"Pretty close." He frowned at the chair he was now sitting in. "These chairs are really uncomfortable. I think I was better off with the kitchen one."

"Well you're not supposed to sit bolt-upright in them. These chairs are meant for lounging."

And lounge she did, in her skimpy tank top and short cut-offs.

Chad peered over at her. _This chair sucks, but it's got a great view._

---

Abby was heading up the stairs when the doorbell rang. She hesitated a moment before descending to answer it. She opened the door to see Maurice.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you out there with Cree?" She asked the question in an even, detached voice, as if she were saying "How do you do?" to a relative stranger. It was unexpectedly easy.

"I wanted to talk to you."

Abby stood in the doorway and regarded him, not letting him in, not turning him away. She was proud and rather surprised at how well she was able to keep her emotions in check.

Maurice wasn't faring nearly as well. He was visibly agitated.

"What do you want to talk about?" Again she was polite, aloof.

"I—I wanted to apologize…for the other day. I didn't mean to—I should have trusted you."

Abby frowned slightly, remembering the pain of that day. But immediately she returned to a neutral expression. "You already apologized for that." She met his eyes with an even gaze and he couldn't keep eye contact with her for long. He was sweating from the strain of the conversation; Abby wondered how long he would last.

"I know…but…."

"You want me to forgive you," she completed the sentence he didn't have the courage to utter. It was a large request. For all her outward impassiveness, she was still angry, and more than that, hurt. _How could he not trust me? How could he think that I would betray the Kids Next Door?_ But then she wondered how much of the blame was her own. _I should have talked to him. I should have let him know what my plans were._ It's just that talking to him lately was so difficult. She didn't know how to act; she didn't know how to feel. She wished she could be friends with him again. She wished…she wished she knew what she wished from him. Sometimes she just wanted him to leave her alone. But other times….

"No, it's not that," Maurice said, and Abby suddenly remembered they were having a conversation. She quickly reset her poker face.

"I mean—" he continued, "of course I want you to forgive me. But I can't just come up to you and ask you to forgive me. I…have to earn it. And I hope you'll give me a chance to."

It was Abby's turn to break eye contact as she scrambled internally to try to make sense of her feelings. Why was she both happy and angry to hear those words?

"You don't have to say anything," Maurice said quietly, which was good, as Abby had no idea what to say. "And…there's something else…I should say…" he spoke reluctantly. "About you and…Chad."

Abby's eyes darted up to his face to find he was no longer looking at her.

"…I want you to know…though I guess it doesn't matter what I think…but…if he makes you happy, then I'm glad for you. I'm sorry I was so hard on you about your relationship with him."

Abby had to stifle a groan. Again with the misunderstandings. Just as she was trying to decide whether or not to tell him the truth, she heard some commotion coming from the kitchen.

"You'd better go," she said, closing the door just in time as Cree and Chad entered the living room.

"…chair tried to eat me!" Abby heard Chad exclaim as he pushed through the door.

"It's just a scratch." She headed towards the bathroom and then emerged with an alcohol wipe.

"I'm missing most of the skin off my left arm!"

"Quit whining; you're not even bleeding." She handed him the wipe when she noticed Abby with her hand on the front door. "Was someone at the door?"

"No. I was just going to go out. What happened?" she asked, though in truth wasn't all that interested.

"Cree failed to warn me that those lawn chairs are actually death traps," Chad griped as he gingerly dabbed at his wound.

"Oh, please." Cree rolled her eyes. "It's just a little scrape. Look at this, Abby, and tell Chad he's being a baby." She grabbed his arm to display the injury.

"Ow! Leggo!" Chad protested and yanked his arm away.

Abby really wasn't in the mood to watch their antics. "I'm running late, so…." She turned the doorknob.

As Abby headed out the door, she heard Chad say behind her, "I should get going, too, before you set more lawn furniture on me."

_Idiot,_ Abby thought, _leaving together is just as bad as arriving together. _Abby grumbled, knowing what would come next.

"Oh…? Oh, right," Cree said, at first surprised but then with a knowing tone. "Have fun, guys."

Abby couldn't help but glower at Chad, who stared back at her with innocent confusion.

"Hold on," Cree called after them, causing them both to turn.

She pulled her little sister aside. "You're going to wear that on your date?" she asked with some disapproval.

It was too much. She couldn't take it anymore. _"That's it!" _Abby roared, slamming the door shut. Both Cree and Chad jumped.

"This has gone on for too long now!" she yelled. "Would you stop it already with the teasing and the innuendo? I'm sick of it! Chad and I are _not_ dating; do you hear me? _Not dating!_"

The other two were looking at her with stunned expressions. Cree recovered first.

"Abby," she said in a low voice, "it's one thing to say that when Chad's not around, but right in front of him? That's just…that's just cruel."

Abby sputtered briefly, glaring at her sister in rage before turning on Chad. "You!" she shouted and he flinched. "You tell her right now! Right now!"

Chad gaped at her with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. "T-tell her what?"

"Tell her the truth! Tell her what you should have told her ages ago! Tell her—"

"Tell me what?" asked Cree, approaching the other two with curiosity.

Chad shrunk away from the two Lincoln sisters as they converged on him, one with fury, the other with interest.

"I…I…don't know what…. I…there's nothing to--"

Cree frowned and turned to Abby. "He's just babbling now. What is your boyfriend trying to say?"

Abby groaned in frustration, but Chad seemed to suddenly snap to attention.

"What?" he asked. "What did you--? Did you call me her boyfriend?"

"Yeah. I mean…aren't you?"

"No," he replied, appearing rather troubled at the misunderstanding. "No, Abby and I aren't dating at all."

Cree stared at him quizzically. "Really?"

"No, no, we're just friends."

Cree continued to stare. "Oh…. I…I thought…." Her expression softened as she broke into laughter. "I thought you were dating. All this time. I thought…"

They had started talking over each other, saying, "Why would you think that?" and "I don't know, you just seemed so close all of a sudden," and "That actually explains a lot, sometimes you said things that didn't make any sense," and "I'm sorry, you must have been so confused…."

"Wait a second, wait a second," Abby interrupted. "How come I tell you eleventy billion times that Chad and I aren't dating and you don't believe me, and then Chad says it once, and all of a sudden you do?"

Cree laughed, somewhat embarrassedly. "I…I don't know. I guess it's because…I know Chad. I know he's a lousy liar." She grinned at him with a rather superior air. "I know he couldn't keep any secrets from me."

She didn't make anything of the befuddled expressions on the other two's faces.


	28. progress

author's notes: i can't believe i've been writing this fic for over a year now. but it's coming to an end! it's looking like it'll be done at either chapter 30 or 31, depending on how massive i want the last chapter to be.

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---

Cree walked into the school's cafeteria; it was crowded and noisy as usual. But it was always easy to pick Chad out of the crowd, mainly because he was never in it. Sure enough, he was sitting at the end of the emptiest table. The nerd-loser table was more populated than his. His back was turned and he was studying, as usual.

She walked over, sat beside him, and shoved up against him to get his attention. Subtly, of course.

It worked; he turned and stared at her, surprised.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked.

"Uh…huh?" he replied, gaping at her.

Cree laughed and scooted a few inches away, returning to him his personal space. "What are you doing?"

The vaguely glazed look in Chad's eyes dissipated. "Oh…um, studying for chem."

She leaned in closer for a look at his notes; her arm pressed against his. "Hm…chemical equations. Fun."

He didn't answer; the pen in his hand slipped from his grasp and rolled a small distance away. Cree looked up to see him gawking at her again.

She pulled away and made a face at him. He blinked at her a few times and said, "Sorry—what were you saying?" as he reached to reclaim his errant pen.

"Not important," she grinned. _Chad sure is loopy sometimes._ "So what's for lunch? More bologna?"

He shook his head. "Times are tough," he said, holding up his sandwich. "PB and J."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe it's time you sell your cow at the marketplace."

"But if we sell Bessie, how will we get our milk?"

Cree laughed and had to resist the urge to hug him senseless. It was weird how happy she felt when she was just joking around with him. _Well, why shouldn't I hug him?_ She wondered to herself. _We're friends, and friends hug all the time._ But ultimately she talked herself out of it; it would be kind of weird to suddenly glomp him.

"So where's your lunch?" Chad asked.

"Ate it already. I got hungry during English class. We're reading _Pickwick Papers._"

"There is a lot of food porn in there. You want some of mine?" he offered up his sandwich.

"No, thanks. Doesn't feel right taking food from starving football players. Besides, I need to try and con Mrs. Leerburger into giving me an extension on my paper."

"Try telling her how well her pointy hat goes with her green complexion."

"I used that last time. This time I'm thinking of mentioning how well she handles her broomstick."

"Good luck," Chad grinned at her as she stood.

"Thanks." As she crossed behind him she had a thought and this time decided not to ignore it. Standing directly behind him, she leaned up against him and reached forward to take his right hand, holding the pen. With his hand in hers, she directed his pen to doodle a turtle in the margin of his chemistry notes. Satisfied with the result, she giggled a little then released him and left. She could feel him gaping at her again, and somehow that made her happy too.

---

Maurice sat on the lumpy couch of his living room in front of the television. He should have been doing his homework; he should have been checking in with the head of Covert Teen Operations. Instead, he was there staring at the screen which flickered images that he didn't even register. He was thinking of Abby. More specifically, he was thinking of how he could make amends with her.

Apologizing to her was a step in the right direction. He was glad he had done it, even though it had been difficult. The simple act of talking to her lately was difficult. Telling her he was fine with her relationship with Chad was hardest of all, mostly because it wasn't true. Yes, Maurice wanted Abby to be happy, but with himself, not Chad. _I want to be the one she talks to; I want to be the one she goes to for comfort._ Maurice sighed. _Instead I've been selfish and petty; I argued with her over stupid things. I might as well have thrown her at Chad._ The image of Abby and Chad in each other's arms flashed in his mind, and he clenched his jaw tightly. _That bastard._ He kicked the coffee table at his feet, which upset the vase of flowers upon it and it toppled over, spilling its contents onto the carpeted floor.

"Damn," he muttered as he went to get towels to clean up the mess.

As he blotted up the water and returned the flowers to the vase, (it thankfully hadn't shattered) he had to acknowledge the fact that it wasn't Chad's fault that Abby was in love with him. But that didn't stop Maurice from being jealous of him.

Maurice heaved a sigh at the thought. He decided to let evaporation take care of the rest of the cleanup and flopped back down on the couch.

He needed to find a way to make things up with Abby. He needed to be her friend again. He had lost too many of his friends as it was.

But how? Maurice thought of their days back in Sector V. They had used to go on candy expeditions together, but he couldn't very well ask her on one now. Why did life always get more difficult?

There was one other option. It had been in the back of his mind for a while now. He could break up with Cree. Abby herself had once essentially asked him to do it, but he had refused on grounds of being loyal to the Kids Next Door. At the time he had hoped Abby suggested it because she wanted to be with him. But now he realized it was more than that. Abby didn't like him deceiving her sister. And he didn't like it either. It was just…he had gotten used to it after all this time. _If you do something often and long enough, even if you know it's wrong…it becomes habit._ He had grown accustomed to lying to Cree; to everyone, even. He had to stop. Before he turned into a person he didn't want to be.

Having made this decision, he was still uneasy. He had never had to break up with anyone before. And he had been dating Cree for over a year. How would she take it? And would it compromise his position in the Covert Teen Ops?

_It shouldn't be so bad, _he thought to himself. _We've been growing apart for a long time now. She'd probably agree that splitting is the best decision._

---

Cree sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hands that grew slowly colder as she smiled to herself while staring off into space.

Abby entered the kitchen. "'Morning, Cree."

Cree, still lost in her thoughts, didn't reply.

Her younger sister pondered over her for a moment. "Earth to Cree," she said in a louder voice.

"Oh! I didn't notice you come in."

"Well, this is a large, dark, kitchen," Abby replied sarcastically, squinting at the sunlight streaming in through the windows.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, "I guess I'm not completely awake yet." She sipped her coffee.

"I know the feeling," Abby shrugged, sitting down at the table as well once she had poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"I had that dream again."

"The one where you show up to class in your underwear?"

"No," Cree laughed. "The one where I'm chasing after someone, but lose him…or her. And then someone comes--"

"Oh, the mystery-hugger dream," Abby interrupted. "Did you turn around this time?"

"No."

"I still think it's mom."

Cree shook her head. "It's not a mom kind of hug. It might be Maurice," she suggested doubtfully. The more times she had that dream, the less certain she was that it was her boyfriend.

"What about the person running away?"

"I don't know either." Cree gazed at the hat on her sister's head.

Abby had become pensive as well. She sighed. "Sometimes dreams are just dreams."

"Yeah…." But she hoped it wasn't. She wished she had turned around to look at her dream love, but every time she dreamed that dream and she was in his arms, she felt so contented that all she did was drink in the feeling…. And before she knew it the dream was over and she was awake, and she had missed another chance.

"So how are you and Chad doing?" Abby asked.

"What about Chad?" Cree could feel herself blushing though had no idea why. "Why would we be doing anything?"

Her sister stared at her with a weary expression. "I'm just asking how your friendship's holding up now that you know he and I aren't dating. Haven't been dating, _ever,_ I might add."

"Oh, that, well," Cree chuckled weakly. "At first I was a little worried how it might affect things, but then I realized I was being silly. I've been friends with him all this time and it's been fine, right? And besides, my little crush on him was forever ago." She didn't think anything of the impulse she was having lately to touch him as much as was decently possible.

"Hm, that's good. Are you going to tell him you saw him naked?"

"Never!" Cree yelped, turning a brighter shade of red. "Besides, he was only _mostly_ naked."

Abby snickered and left the room as Cree desperately tried not to think of her best friend in various stages of undress.

---

Chad's alarm went off at 6:00 in the morning as usual. But he lingered in bed, not because he was tired, but because he wanted to. It was Saturday, and he really didn't have anything scheduled for that morning until his violin lesson at 9:00 anyways. Somehow, his laziness was linked to the strange feeling, almost like happiness, that he had been feeling lately. He supposed there wasn't any real reason to feel happy, it wasn't as if anything had changed. Cree was still dating Maurice, and yes, that sucked. But it seemed that lately they weren't so close. She didn't seem to be constantly hugging and touching and kissing him anymore. It was only a matter of time before they broke up. Then the time would be right. Then he could finally tell her that he was the one who truly loved her all along. And then…life would be perfect.

He picked up the stuffed turtle from his nightstand, giving it a light squeeze. "It'll be soon, won't it, Speedy?"

---  
---

author's notes: Cree was acting pretty shameless in this chapter, wasn't she? XP


	29. regress

Maurice stood in front of the mirror in his bedroom and took a deep breath.

"Cree," he said, looking steadily at his reflection, "Lately I've been thinking…you and I haven't been…. Lately…." He deflated.

_Ugh, how do you break up with someone?_

He inhaled again, firmly staring his reflection in the eye. "Cree, I think we should break up."

_No, that's not right…it's too direct and out of nowhere._

"Cree, you don't love me, and I don't love you, so I think it's time to call it quits."

_That's just as bad as the last one._

"It's not me, it's you." He laughed.

_How am I going to do this?_

"Cree, is it just me, or have we been growing apart?"

_But then she might think I'm trying to strengthen our relationship._

"Cree, I think we've been growing apart, and I like it!" He laughed again, followed quickly by a sigh.

_I just hope she doesn't cry._

---

Cree bustled around the kitchen, from sink to stove to refrigerator to table and back again. She heard a knock at the door to the yard and looked over to see Chad.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she let him in before immediately returning to her culinary projects.

"You said there'd be a meeting today, didn't you? What's going on?" Chad asked.

"Did I? Oh, wait, I think I remember saying something like that. You've really got to stop remembering things I say, Chad."

"I'm sorry, I'll have to work on that," he said with mock-remorse.

"Okay, as long as you're sorry," Cree grinned. "Anyways, Dad's throwing a dinner party for his colleagues. His party, but I'm always the one who ends up doing most of the work. It's times like these that I really wish Mom were around."

"I'm sorry," he repeated, this time sincerely. "Do you—"

"Oh, it's not that bad. I don't mind it, really, we're actually getting most of the dinner catered. It's just appetizers and dessert that I have to handle; I can deal. I'm just a little frazzled right now." Cree threw a handful of chopped chives into a dip and stirred it.

"So I guess that means no big missions for now, huh?"

"Want a mission?" She threw a box of crackers at him. "Lay those out on a platter. There's a mission for you." She pointed at a cupboard and Chad dutifully went over to fetch a large, ornate plate.

He poured out some crackers and began arranging them. He sampled one, and finding it good, repeated the action.

"Hey," reproved Cree, catching him red-handed, "stop filching my hors-d'oeuvres."

"I'm only eating the broken ones."

"That one doesn't look broken." She pointed to the one currently en route to his mouth.

He scarfed it down defiantly.

She shook her head at him and continued to julienne vegetables.

Meanwhile Chad searched for broken crackers in earnest. Whole ones he deposited on the platter, but damaged goods were set aside for consumption. Once he had amassed a collection of cracker fragments, he proceeded to devour them one by one. Studying them, he realized that two of the broken pieces were clearly two halves of a former whole. He pushed the two together; it was a perfect fit. He gazed at them musingly.

"What are you doing?"

Chad crammed the pieces in his mouth. "Nuthin'."

She smirked, but then noticed the plate, where the crackers were laid out in a decorative spiral. "Nice job."

Chad shrugged. "My mom's won awards for her cheese platters, maybe it's hereditary."

"Maybe it is. Hey, speaking of cheese, would you mind slicing some and putting it on that plate as well?"

"Exploitation," Chad muttered as he walked over to the fridge.

"I know; I'm a horrible person!"

"Where's the cheese?" he asked, hunting in her refrigerator.

"It's on the top shelf."

"I don't see it."

"Hm?" Cree walked over to search, and Chad stepped aside to give her access. "Oh, that's right, I put it in the drawer. Here you go. While I'm here, I should take out the ingredients for dessert." By then she was talking more to herself than to anyone. "Milk, four eggs…." She grabbed the milk with one hand, and reached for the eggs with the other. Two eggs was easy, three was less so, the fourth was probably a bad idea. She edged away from the fridge, closing it with her foot. Just then she lost her hold on one of the eggs, and let out a small gasp. But even as she gasped, a hand reached forward and caught the falling egg.

"Wow, good reflexes. Thank—" she began then looked up to see his face surprisingly close to hers. She was staring directly into his eyes. Her heart fluttered oddly in her chest. There was something about those warm eyes gazing into hers that left her breathless. _Why do I want to move even closer…?_

It was one of those moments where time seemed to have frozen. The only thing that indicated the passage of time was her pounding heart. She had never been that aware of it before, it was as if her heart were trying to tell her something.

Caught in the moment, she loosened her grasp on the eggs, and one fell to the ground with a small _crack!_ That tiny sound was enough to break the spell.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking," she said, depositing the rest of the eggs into his hands, putting the milk down on the counter, and rushing to get paper towels to clean up the mess.

"Cree—"

"You know what? I should get a mop. Be back in a jiff!" She raced out the door to the living room then halfway up the stairs where she sat and sighed, burying her face in her hands. Her heart was throbbing painfully, almost as if it were angry with her.

---

Chad stood rooted in place, hands still full of eggs and cheese, as he watched Cree run from the room. He had almost told her. He was so close….

But…maybe it wasn't what he thought at all. Maybe that look in her eyes was just his own wishful thinking. _The way she ran out of here like that…._

"Why are you just standing there? Go after her."

Chad turned to see Abby standing in the other doorway. How long had she been there?

"I…I don't…." He stared at the door through which Cree had disappeared just seconds ago. Then he looked down at his hands. "She asked me to do something. I'll talk to her when she gets back." He clumsily placed the eggs on the counter then found a knife to slice the cheese with. _Besides, I told myself I'd wait until she broke up with Maurice. I should wait until then, right?_

"Coward," Abby muttered as she walked out the door to the living room herself.

---

Cree, still seated on the stairs, heard footsteps coming and she stood quickly to continue her ascent.

"Hey, Sis."

"Oh, it's you, Abby."

"So what was that? I saw you and Chad having that close-range staring contest in the kitchen just now."

"What? What was what? It was nothing. Nothing happened."

Abby stared straight at her for several seconds. "Idiots. Both of you." Then she walked away.

Cree frowned at her sister's words. _What is she suggesting? Nothing happened. It was a weird moment, that's all. I was caught off-guard by Chad, and that's it. It was just that I've never looked into his eyes up-close like that before, into his beautiful, warm eyes that made me feel like the only person in the world that matters…._

She gasped. _What's wrong with me? Maurice is my boyfriend; I love him. I'm in love with Maurice._

---

Chad looked up from his cheese platter when Abby entered the kitchen.

"Sit there and cut cheese…it's none of my business…stupid teenagers," she grumbled to herself and walked straight out the other door.

He pondered why she even cared what he and Cree did. Then he sighed and returned to his assigned duty. But after a couple more slices he paused and thought. It wasn't just he who thought that Cree was looking at him with an expression that was more than friendship. Abby thought so too. And the way she was tilting her face up towards his—was she…could she possibly have been asking for a kiss?

The cheese could wait. He stood and walked to the living room.

---

_I'm in love with Maurice. I am, I always have been, _Cree was repeating to herself as the doorbell rang. She descended the stairs to open it.

"Hey, Cree," greeted her boyfriend.

"Maurice!" she exclaimed, not noticing the uncomfortable expression on his face. She threw her arms around him. "I'm so happy to see you!" She pulled back to stare into his eyes, willing her heart to beat faster.

Nothing.

_Stupid heart, what does it know? I love Maurice, I know I do, I've always loved him._

"I love you, Maurice," she said, and kissed him.

---

Chad heard the doorbell ring just as he entered the living room. He saw Cree answer the door, and saw who it was. When she hugged Maurice, Chad knew he should have turned and left, but his motor skills were dulled as he felt the same, familiar pain in his chest, the same one he felt every time he saw the two of them together.

But it was then that he heard the words he never wanted to hear. _I love you._ She was saying them to _him._ The familiar ache in his chest instantly became a horrible, twisting pain that filled his entire being. He could only stare in shock as he watched the two of them kissing.

Finally he was able to tear his eyes away from the scene. He turned and blindly pushed his way through the door he had just entered, into the kitchen then staggered outside through the back door.

Chad stumbled down the street, walking aimlessly. The same thought cycled endlessly through his brain:

_She loves him, of course she loves him, she always did and always will. I never had a chance; I should just give up. She loves him…._

He felt completely crushed. It was worse, far worse, to realize the truth now when he had been so full of hope and more in love with her than ever. _Why did we have to be friends; why did we have to be teammates; why do I have to love everything about her? What purpose is there to life if I can't be with her?_ He realized now the real reason he continued to part of the team all this time—it wasn't only so he could be near her. It was because of the infinitesimal hope that one day she would turn her head and _see_ him.

But it would never happen. _How could I have been so stupid?_ He plodded sluggishly. There was no reason for anything anymore. _How did I ever fool myself into thinking she'd ever…._ The pain he felt earlier was subsiding, being replaced with exhaustion and weakness. It was as if his heart had been ripped out, leaving nothing but a gaping, empty hole in his chest. He wanted to lie down and sleep and never wake up.

_Never wake up…._

It was the first time Chad had ever seriously contemplated suicide. He knew where Dad hid the gun and the bullets. He wondered how painful it was to be shot through the head. All of Mom's kitchen knives were meticulously sharpened. What was the proper way to slit your wrists? The lake was quite deep in some places—if he threw himself in, would he float to the top? Or would weighing himself down with rocks do the trick?

Pondering over his own death was a cold comfort. At least it took his mind off of Cree. If he never thought of her again, then maybe he'd be okay. But she was constantly on his mind—he might as well try to go without breathing. _If only I could forget her…._

A single, clear thought crystallized in his mind.

He didn't have to die; he could start over and never think about her again. It was the perfect solution.

---

Abby checked her voicemail. A message from Chad. She opened it.

"Abby, I just wanted to say…well, goodbye, I guess. You've been a real friend; I really appreciate it. But I can't do this anymore. I'm done with it. Sorry I couldn't say this in person…. Bye."

---  
---

author's notes: it's pretty obvious what Chad's going to do, so it's hardly a cliffhanger, right? ha, i'll try to get the next chapter up soon anyways.  
i still haven't decided whether the next chapter should be the last one or if i should split it in two. decisions….


	30. almost

author's notes: okay, so while 30 would be a nice round number to end things, i've decided to split the end in two, since it was on the insanely-long side. so here's the second-to-last chapter! i also should say that in the middle of this chapter there's a point of view change from Chad's to Cree's, and it's separated by a "." rather than a "---" as they usually are, since it's supposed to be the same scene and i didn't want to disrupt the flow of it too much. i hope it's not too jarring.

---  
---

Kissing Maurce felt...wrong. Cree had no idea why, she had kissed him many times before, and this one was just like the others...but somehow she realized that not only was this kiss somehow awkward, inappropriate, just _not right,_ but so was every kiss before this one.

She pulled away from the kiss just at the same moment Maurice had. In truth, it rather felt as though he were pushing her away. She stared at him, confused, and just a little offended.

"I—" he stammered, "sorry, I forgot. Something—at my house. Sorry!" And then he ran off.

She stared after him, more annoyed than anything else. It was odd that she wasn't more hurt. She had told him that she loved him and he ran off like she had the plague or something.

No matter. She closed the front door and returned to the kitchen; she still had those appetizers to finish and... Chad. She still had to face him after running out on him earlier. She paused before reentering the kitchen. She felt terrible for running away like that. _But why should I? It's not like we're..._ No, it was just her. Her own mind being weird, or something. She took a breath and entered the kitchen.

He wasn't there. There was the platter of crackers, several slices of cheese, but Chad was nowhere to be found. Cree was suddenly worried. _Maybe he went to the bathroom or something,_ she tried to reason to herself. But that was when she noticed the door to the back yard was open. She went and stared out to the street. She saw no sign of him.

"Chad...?" she called out uncertainly, but didn't receive, or even expect any response. She returned to the kitchen, frowning in concern. It wasn't like him.

_He could still be in the house,_ she continued to tell herself. She walked into the living room, the dining room, then upstairs, knowing logically he wouldn't be there. She went to her sister's room and knocked on the door as she opened it.

"Abby? Do you know—"

Her sister stared at her, her cell phone in hand. "What did you do?" she demanded.

Cree looked at her, stunned by the accusatory tone in her sister's voice. "What do you mean?"

Abby presented her cell phone to her. "What did you do?"

She took the phone and listened to the voice mail message. It was Chad. Her feeling of concern multiplied a hundred times over as she heard his words, and worse, his tone. "What does it mean?"

"You tell me."

"How am I supposed to know?" Cree cried, anxiety ringing in her voice. "Call him back! Do something!"

"I tried calling him; he won't answer his cell phone."

"Well, I—" She put her hands to her head and tried to think. She returned the phone to her sister and left the room.

"Where are you going?" Abby asked.

"I don't know. I don't know. I've got to find him."

---

Chad stared up at the treehouse. Sector W's Treehouse looked rather similar to those of Sectors Q and V. Understandable, as they were in the same general vicinity. Taking a breath, he walked in. The Treehouse's defense array, now standard in most Treehouses, was on, but it wasn't anything a former non-decommissioned operative couldn't override. He climbed the seemingly endless spiral steps, up to the mission prep room. This was also familiar—similar, but different. Plenty of wood (of course), and 2x4 technology. It was empty; he should have known it would be, getting inside was much too easy.

He sighed impatiently and began to wander the room. He scaled the few steps to the raised platform and stood behind the podium. He looked down at the seating area beneath the hologram projector. How often had he stood behind this podium when he was leader of his own team? He didn't remember. Soon, he wouldn't remember at all….

Hearing a noise, Chad's eyes flew to the entrance to the room.

"Lee…?" came a girl's voice. "Are you here? The defense array was off when I—" She stopped short when she saw Chad standing on the platform.

He regarded her without recognition. Blonde, pigtailed, she could have been any little girl in the crowd. Chad preferred it that way. He didn't want to be taken in by someone he knew.

He descended the platform and walked towards her.

"W-wait—stop right there!" she stammered reaching behind her for a weapon. She pulled out a teddy bear launcher, and aimed at him unsteadily. "I-I-I know who you are! Just because you used to be a Kids Next Door operative doesn't mean you can defeat me!"

"Calm down," Chad replied, mildly annoyed. He raised his hands, showing his lack of firearms. "I'm not here to fight. I'm turning myself in."

"You're what?"

"I'm turning myself in," he repeated. "Look, just slap on some cuffs and take me to Moonbase to be decommissioned. I want to get this over with."

The girl eyed him suspiciously. "How do I know that this isn't just some teen trick?"

"Listen, kid, I'm trying to do you a favor here. Wouldn't you like to be known as the one who brought down former Numbuh 274, fallen 'legendary' operative, blah, blah, blah?" He sighed wearily. "Or I could just go to Moonbase and turn myself in." He frowned, not looking forward to Numbuh 86's inevitable crowing. "Look, are we going to do this or not?" He held out his hands to her to be bound.

She stared for a second then decided and scrambled for a means to restrain him. He watched her without interest. Eventually she returned with a pair of 2x4 cuffs and a written document.

As the girl fastened the restraints, she read: "You are hereby scheduled for immediate decommissioning, former operative Numbuh 274, alias Chad—um, what's your last name?"

"Does it matter?" he grumbled.

"Well, according to procedure, I have to state your full—"

There was a loud explosion of glass and wood and smoke. Chad heard a cry from the girl then the sound of her thudding to the floor several feet away. His eyes watered in the smoke as he whirled around, trying to find the cause of the commotion. Someone grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him away. He resisted.

"Chad! Come on! Let's go!"

He recognized her voice and his stomach sank. She was the last person he wanted to see right now.

He yanked his arm away from her. The cuffs dangled uselessly from one of his wrists. "Cree, what are you doing here?" In the back of his mind he did wonder—what was she doing there when just a little while ago she was telling Maurice…. But no. He wasn't going to make the stupid mistake of hoping. Not again.

"I should be asking you that. But we don't have time now, we'll talk later."

"No," Chad stated firmly. The smoke was starting to clear and he looked at her steadily in her Battle Ready Armor. "I'm staying; I'm turning myself in."

"But…why?" She sounded genuinely confused.

"Why? _Why?_ I'm sick of this—that's why! I'm sick of wasting my time, trying to…. It's just—all so pointless. I'm sick of being…." The anger in his voice dissipated. He stared out the window at the cheerless gray sky. He continued in a soft voice: "I don't want to remember anything. I…don't want to play anymore."

They stood silently as the smoke blew slowly through the ruined room. They could hear voices in the Treehouse; other operatives would be there soon.

Chad continued to stare out of the window. He didn't care what happened to him. Kids would charge in any moment now, weapons firing. They'd attack then capture him, and drag him to be decommissioned. He had hoped it wouldn't be as dramatic as all that, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that it was over.

"You'd better get going," he said detachedly.

Cree watched him with concern. Her head armor folded back and she took a step towards him. "But Chad…I need you."

He turned slowly to regard her. What he really wanted, more than anything, was to be able to look at her and _not_ feel as if someone were trying to rip his heart in two. He wanted to forget….

The voices were getting closer. The blonde girl was starting to stir, groaning slightly.

"Chad…?" Cree pleaded him with her eyes, and tentatively offered a hand.

_God, how I hate her!_

"Fine," he resigned. _Damn it, why do I always give in to her? _He reached out and took her hand.

Her expression brightened. She grasped his hand tightly, and pulled him with her. They made their retreat just in time, jumping into Cree's waiting aircraft as the operatives entered, weapons blazing.

---

Cree set her aircraft down in his backyard. Without a word, not even a glance back to her, Chad walked to his house.

"Chad—wait." Cree disembarked from her ship and followed him into his house.

He stopped but refused to look at her.

"I don't understand, Chad. Why…all of a sudden you…. If they decommissioned you, you wouldn't remember anything, not even…not even me. Aren't we friends?"

She sounded hurt. _Good, _he thought to himself, trying to squash the prick of guilt.

Aloud, he said in a voice as steady as he could muster, "I'm tired, Cree. I don't want to do this anymore. I would have quit a long time ago if it weren't…."

Cree waited for him to finish, but he didn't. After several long moments of silence, she began, "I can't say I understand it, but if you want to talk…?"

He clenched his jaw and stared at the floor. _It's your fault. Your fault. _Aloud he said, "I hate my life. Everything about it. I just want everything to go away."

She took in this information. Then ventured, "Everything?"

"Everything." He said the word with finality.  
.

Cree shifted uncomfortably, uncertain how to reply. It was hard to believe that this was the same friend who she laughed with just the other day...just a few hours ago, even. "I…didn't know…that you were so unhappy. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—that is—if you decide…that you still want to be decom—"

"I lied," Chad interrupted. He was facing her now, gazing upon her with sad, warm eyes. "I don't hate everything."

Cree met his eyes, feeling her cheeks grow hot under his stare. She smiled awkwardly. "I'm glad," she finally said, to fill the silence, if nothing else.

Chad didn't look glad at all.

She waited several moments, and it seemed that he wasn't going to say more. She wanted to ask him, _why? How could you be so unhappy when I'm always so happy when I'm with you?_ But she didn't dare. She was afraid of the answer. She didn't know what to say. "Well, I should be going now."

"Cree—" Chad called as she headed for the door.

She turned and looked at him questioningly.

"Cree," he repeated, closing the distance between them. "I know that you're…with Maurice, and that…" he stumbled over the words, staring fixedly at the floor. "…and that you…." He looked up into her eyes for a brief moment before quickly focusing elsewhere. He was silent. For too long. "I'm sorry, this is really bad timing. You—you should go." He glanced up at her again, looking as miserable as ever.

It broke her heart, seeing him like that. He looked in so much pain. And she wished more than anything that she could ease it. But how? She didn't know, so she played the coward's part and ran away. "Okay," she said softly before turning once again towards the door.

"I love you," he announced to her back.

Cree stood still for several seconds without facing him. Strange how those few words could set her heart racing. She slowly turned around and looked at Chad. _Am I trembling?_ It felt like she was.

He gazed at her intently. "I know you and Maurice…. I just want you to know. I don't expect anything from you. You don't need to say anything." He watched her with pained eyes.

Cree's gaze was fixed on his. She knew he must be able to see her shaking and she wished she could stop. More than that, she wished she knew how to respond. Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn't think. "I…I…."

"It's okay," he interrupted quickly. He turned away, sniffling slightly, then immediately attempted a laugh and didn't quite succeed. "I know you two have a thing going, and I don't want to get in the way of that." He rubbed his eyes hastily. "I just wanted to tell you…maybe I shouldn't have…. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she comforted, stepping closer to him. But her brain wouldn't work; it just spun and spun. "You're…so sweet."

Chad made a sound that was halfway between a sob and a chuckle, and again wiped his eyes roughly. "Do you…" he cleared his throat. "Do you mind if I…?" Before he finished his request, he gently put his arms around her and held her close to him.

Cree was a little taken aback, but accepted his embrace. She felt him take a long breath then exhale slowly. It was warm in his arms, and comforting. She closed her eyes. Her mind stopped careening in her skull and her heart took on a less frantic, more certain beat. _I know this feeling…what is it?_

His arms loosened and he released her. Cree opened her eyes unwillingly; it felt as if she were awakening from a dream. She looked up into his eyes, so sad. But he smiled at her.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

---

She walked from Chad's house in a daze. _Chad loves me…._ That was the first time a boy said that to her; she certainly never heard it from…. And that hug…she knew that embrace. He had never held her like that in his arms before, and yet it was as if she remembered it. _How…?_

She paused on the sidewalk and thought, though it was more like recalling an old memory, even like dreaming.

_Dreaming…my dream. The one who always comes to hold me close. It was Chad all along?_

But of course it was. It was suddenly so obvious, as if a thick veil had been pulled away, and she could finally see.

_Of course it was Chad. How could I have been this stupid? For so long? I…._

And then just as abruptly it became clear as well; the one who always ran from her in her dream wasn't Maurice, and it wasn't even Abby. The hat had thrown her off, but now she realized—

_It's me._

It was herself, back when she was Numbuh Eleven. She had been chasing herself all this time. It was her days back in Sector V that she had been trying to reclaim, back when her life was simpler and she was happy. She had her sister, she had the admiration of her teammates; her crush was always nearby. She didn't realize until now how much she missed those days. She didn't realize that she had been clinging to her past for all this time.

But it was a pointless pursuit. She could never get back her childhood, she could never make life the way it was back then. Abby had grown and changed, so had Maurice.

_So have I._

With a sad smile, Cree let Numbuh Eleven dash to the past, where she belonged. She would stay here, an unremarkable teenager with an estranged sister and a boyfriend who didn't love her.

But she had something that not everyone had: a dear friend who she could talk to and laugh with, someone who comforted her with bologna sandwiches and could arrange crackers on a plate like nobody's business. Someone who she never realized before how much she depended on, someone who had just told her that he loved her.

She looked in the direction of Chad's house. But then, deciding quickly, she ran to Maurice's at a rapid pace.

---

Maurice sighed as he lounged on his couch once again. His attempt at breaking up with Cree was a miserable failure. In fact it could hardly be called an attempt at all, he didn't say anything to her other than "Hey, Cree."

And then she said it, she dropped the bomb (out of nowhere!) and he was left speechless. And then she kissed him, and it all felt so wrong. _How could she not feel how wrong this whole relationship is?_

He had panicked. He pushed her away with probably too much force and stammered something about forgetting something at home before turning tail and running.

_Miserable Failure._

And he was still left with the same problem—_How am I going to break up with Cree?_

He frowned as he heard frenetic pounding at his front door. He rose from the couch reluctantly and plodded to the door, opening it without even checking to see who it was. He regretted this as soon as he saw Cree on the other side.

"Maurice!" she exclaimed.

_Dammit, too late to hide and pretend I'm not home._ "Hi, Cr—"

"You don't love me, do you?"

He stared at her, looking stunned. Mostly because the words she just used weren't usually said with such a wide smile.

"I…."

"It's okay, I don't love you either. I don't know what made me say it earlier, I must have been crazy."

Maurice's mouth hung open in a baffled expression. "Are…you breaking up with me?"

"That's it exactly! I'm so glad you understand!" She reached forward and gave him a tight, quick hug. "Thank you," she said then hastened away.

He stared after her rapidly retreating form.

_Well, that was…easy._

---  
---

author's notes: Cree's strange behavior, finally explained! and Cree and Maurice have finally split. whoo-hoo!


	31. finally

After Chad had told her, after he held her close to pretend for one last time that she was his, after he saw her walk away…after all that, he felt empty. He didn't feel angry, and not even that hurt, just vaguely sad, and very, very tired. For a long time he just stood, rooted in place. He didn't know how long. Eventually he decided he should go lie down, and he trudged upstairs to his room. But as he reached out to push open his door, the cuffs that dangled at his wrist reminded Chad of its presence and he decided he should do something about removing them. He turned down the hall and punched in the code to his parents' barricaded lair, and once inside it wasn't too difficult to find a laser cutter which made quick work of the cuffs. While he was there he thought that perhaps he heard something from outside, but the walls were fairly soundproof and he didn't really care. He made sure to put everything back where he found them (his parents were always very strict about that) before leaving the hideout, returning to his room and falling face-down onto his bed.

Lying there he found that although he was tired, he wasn't sleepy, and his mind wouldn't stop playing his last interaction with Cree over and over again. He wished his brain would stop.

He opened his eyes and immediately saw the stuffed turtle. He lifted it from the nightstand and squeezed it gently. It was then that the wave of pain, sadness, and bitterness rolled in, flooding him entirely. He clenched the small toy in his fist, rose from bed, and then threw it from his window with all his might. Then he collapsed back onto his bed, fiercely wiping away his tears.

_I should never have told her._

But no. He was glad he did. He knew it, even then as he said it at perhaps the worst possible moment, in the least romantic way, that he was doing the right thing. A weight had lifted from him as soon as he said the words—the weight of a year and more's worth of fear, bitterness and sadness. Of course a lot of the sadness remained. But he realized then that the flash of bitterness he felt just now was the last of it. Even if things didn't end the way he wished it would, even if she didn't love him in return, at least now he had told her, and she knew.

Chad sat up suddenly, regretting his thoughtless action of casting Speedy away. While Cree didn't realize it, that toy turtle meant more to him than he was willing to admit. He rushed out the door.

---

Back at Chad's house, Cree pounded on his front door. Then noticing the doorbell, she rang it in a more civilized manner. Still no answer. She tried to peek into the window, but all she saw was a clean, empty living room. She rang the doorbell again, this time repeatedly. _He couldn't be out, could he? I was just here._ She sighed and took out her phone. She called him but got his voicemail.

Cree frowned impatiently. _How am I supposed to throw myself at him if I can't even find him?_ She paced back and forth then walked around to the backyard. There she looked up to his bedroom window. He could be in there…. Scanning the area, she cursed the lack of trees near his window. There was, however, a rose trellis on the side of the house. She tested her weight on it and found it less than satisfactory. She frowned pensively, looking up again at the second story window.

That was when she remembered her jet boots. _Duh, of course!_ she laughed to herself. Just as she was about to armor up, she heard the window open, and she looked up to see something small fly out of it.

_What was that?_ She walked over to the shrubbery to investigate. After some searching, she found it. Speedy.

"Aw, poor Speedy, what..." She looked up at the window, Chad's window, and realized what must have happened. She stared at the small toy in her hand, her eagerness to see him suddenly replaced with doubt. When she heard footsteps approaching, she made an attempt to hasten away.

"Cree?" Chad asked in surprise as he came near.

She stopped and glanced back at him. "Hi. Chad." She made an attempt to hide the plush toy behind her, but he had already seen it.

"I...uh... You found Speedy."

"Yeah, I saw him fall." She cradled the rejected toy in her hands.

"He…uh, fell out the window," he said, and she could see he was lying. "What are you doing here?"

Cree found herself unable to state her true purpose. "I…left my bike." Sure enough, her transmogrified bike-turned-aircraft was still in his yard, off to the side. She had forgotten about it completely after Chad's admission. She approached it, pressed a button under a hidden panel, and it reverted to bike form. She continued to hold the plush turtle.

Chad watched her from a distance. "Cr…. I…. Actually…I threw Speedy out the window," he admitted.

She looked at him.

"I was angry. I'm sorry."

She gazed at the turtle. "That's okay. I mean, you must..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words "hate me now." Her heart felt like a heavy burden in her chest.

"Could I...have him back?"

She peered up at him. "You still want him?"

He met her eyes. "Yeah."

Her heart instantly felt lighter. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she smiled. "I didn't come back here for my bike."

He looked at her, confused.

"I…well, I mean…." _It's now or never, _Cree thought to herself.

Chad continued to watch her.

"I…. About earlier, when you…when I—" _Dammit, why is this so hard?_

"You don't have to say anything," he interrupted. "It's okay."

"But I—" She stopped and sighed, wondering how many times Chad had tried to tell her how he felt but got tongue-twisted and gave up. _It's just…if only he weren't staring at me like that with those eyes…._

Cree opened her mouth to try again, but then suddenly pointed behind him. "What's that?"

"Huh?" He turned his head.

She leapt forward determinedly and caught him in her arms, holding him tight. Several hundred heartbeats later, (probably less than three seconds in real time,) Chad asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm hugging you." Her eyes were shut tight and the right side of her face was squashed against his chest.

"Oh. Uh, why?"

Cree laughed, feeling much better. "You really are dense, aren't you?" She lifted her head and pressed her lips to his.

---

Stunned couldn't even begin to describe how Chad was feeling. Cree had pinned one of his arms to his side, and the other was hanging uselessly like a slab of dead meat. But of course the weirdest part of all was the fact that she was _kissing him_. He wished he could kiss her back. He wished he could move—something, anything, but his mind was spinning so much and his heart was pounding so hard he thought he might pass out.

Chad didn't know how long it was before Cree pulled back, but when she did, he tried not to gawk at her.

He clearly didn't succeed, because her glowing expression quickly turned bright red when she saw his bewilderment.

"Oh! I'm sorry—I should have given you some kind of warning." She began to move away.

It was right then—and he thanked God for it—that he regained movement, and he held her tight, preventing her escape.

"N-no, stay," he stammered, internally cursing his awkwardness. But something else was going on inside him; it was warm and dizzying and slowly spread throughout his entirety.

Cree was blushing even more now, but looked directly into his eyes.

Then they just stood there staring at each other for who knows how long, smiling like idiots. It was as if, for the first time, they finally understood each other.

---

As Abby was getting dressed in the morning, she paused just before she put on her usual blue and white shirt. She reached for her birthday present from Cree and put that shirt on instead. She looked at herself in the mirror. Then she pulled the braid from behind her and shook out the plaits. She stared at her reflection.

_I hardly recognize myself._

She looked like a teenager. She was a teenager.

Abby sighed and turned away from the mirror. _It's not a crime, growing up._

Her cell phone rang, and she checked who the caller was before she answered it. "Hey, Mo, how're you holding up?"

"Huh?" Maurice asked through the phone.

Abby laughed a little. "Cree told me about the break up."

"Oh, right, well, I was kind of surprised, but other than that it's fine."

"Good. So what's up?"

"Well, basically I'm calling to…I don't know, see if we can have a talk," Maurice said somewhat hesitantly.

"Like we're doing now?"

"I was thinking more of a face-to-face one."

"Oh…sure, why not?"

"Great. How about now?"

Abby frowned. "You aren't right outside, are—" she began when the doorbell rang.

A moment later she was opening the door to let Maurice in. "You are such a cliché."

He began a laugh, but then he stared at her. Abby suddenly remembered her change in outfit and hair. _Stupid. Boys are so predictable,_ she thought, though she could feel herself blushing.

"You look really pretty." He sounded almost shy. "Are you…going somewhere?"

"No," she answered quickly. "I was just trying something different."

Maurice continued to stand awkwardly until Abby said, "Come in." He did so, but then stood indecisively in the living room. He glanced towards the kitchen and then the dining room.

"What's the matter?" Abby asked.

"Nothing…it's just this whole house reminds me of teen meetings."

"I know what you mean; Cree was having them all over the place. Let's go someplace else."

Maurice was expecting her to open the door and go outside, but instead she ascended the stairs. He was admittedly surprised when she walked into her room, and even more so when she opened her window and climbed out of it. He stuck his head out the window to see her scaling the shingles of the roof.

"Where are you going?"

"Here," she answered simply, settling on the apex of the roof.

He eyed her quizzically, but clambered out the window. Abby had made it look much easier than it actually was. Finally he reached the crest where Abby was and sat beside her, slightly out of breath.

"So you come here often?" he asked.

"Sometimes. The view's not as nice as the Treehouse's, but it's not bad."

"Yeah," he replied, gazing at her in the morning light.

"Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?"

"The Treehouse. Being in Sector V. Being an actual operative, rather than a covert one."

Maurice studied her, wondering why she was asking this question now. _Does she have some kind of ulterior motive for asking it?_

She turned to him. "I'm sorry. Do you not want to answer that? You don't have to."

"No—I…I just don't really know…." He thought. "Yes. I do miss it. I miss being able to just go out on missions, not these stealth ops like now." He wondered if she were judging him as she silently nodded at his response.

Then she spoke. "I miss my friends. I wonder if I'll be able to be friends with them before they turn thirteen."

Maurice was silent. He had made the choice to leave his sector long before his thirteenth birthday. He had lost his friends long ago, and turning thirteen didn't bring much in terms of reconciliation.

"At least I have Cree," she said with some solace.

Again Maurice had no idea what to say. To be honest he was a little surprised that Abby was so close to Cree in spite of all she had done against the Kids Next Door. Having no siblings himself, he probably would never fully understand them.

"So how did your Dad's party go last night?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Fine, other than the fact that I had to make the dessert and finish the appetizers because Cree totally ditched me to run off with Chad."

"Run off with Chad?" he questioned at her choice of phrasing.

"Yeah. You do know they're dating now, right?"

"Cree and Chad?" Maurice asked, stunned. "You're kidding."

"No, it's true."

Maurice shook his head in disbelief. While he didn't care for Cree romantically at all, he couldn't help but feel somewhat affronted that she had moved on so quickly. _That does explain the cheery break up._ "Damn that Chad," he said with a wry smile, pinning him as a scapegoat easily. "He's trying to make me look like a fool or something. He always hated me."

But in reply Abby shook her head with a distant smile. "No, you've got it backwards; he didn't always hate you, he's always loved Cree."

Maurice studied her, noting the affectionate tone and suddenly remembered her own relationship with Chad. _Does that mean they broke up? Is she heartbroken?_ "And what about you?" he asked tentatively.

"Me?" She turned to him. "I love Cree, too. She is my sister, after all."

He frowned at her. "You know that's not what I meant."

Abby focused elsewhere again. "Hmm." She smiled secretly.

He grumbled to himself. _She's going to make me ask her directly. Well, I will._ "Are you in love with Chad or not?"

She laughed outright. "In love with Chad? You've got to be kidding me. I mean, he's a nice guy and all, and a good friend, but damn, is he needy. I don't know how Cree can stand it."

Maurice sighed silently in relief. "Good."

She shot him a look. "That Chad's needy?" she smirked.

"Stop purposely misunderstanding me. You know what I mean."

"I don't know if I do." Her tone was suddenly serious. "After all, you've been on a covert mission for so long, most of the words out of your mouth are lies. How am I supposed to believe a word you say?"

"Well, I—" Maurice began defensively before he slumped and looked away. She was right, after all. He did spend so much of his time lying; even he sometimes forgot what was true anymore. He had given his life to the Kids Next Door Organization. Only now was he beginning to regret it.

"Say it and I'll believe you," Abby whispered.

"Huh?" He turned to her.

"Say the words, and I'll believe you—just this once." She held him in her steady gaze.

He returned her gaze, trying to read her. _Is she really saying what I hope she's saying?_ He opened his mouth and hesitated before murmuring, "I…like you a lot…more than a friend…I—"

Abby smiled, having finally heard what she had been waiting for: pure, simple, unrehearsed truth. She moved closer to him. "Me too."

Thankfully, their second kiss was much better than their first.

---

"Uncanny Valley?"

"It's that principle that says that the more human something is, the more empathetic we are to it, but beyond a certain point it just becomes freaky," Chad explained.

Cree laughed. "I'm just going to nod at you, okay?"

"It's a scientific theory; it was made years ago by a Japanese robotics expert."

"You are such a geek."

It was a conversation much like all of their others. In a way, their relationship hadn't changed much at all. In others, it was completely different. Like now, as they chatted about little-known theories—that act in itself was just the same as it had always been. But the fact that they were resting on her couch together, Cree leaning up against him, Chad's arm around her—that was new, different, and amazing.

"No, listen—" Chad continued to press his point, "it's like those commercials with those sports' stars heads stuck on kids' bodies—"

"Oh, those are freaky."

"Exactly, they fall right into the Uncanny Valley. Like most computer animated humans—the ones that are trying to look like real humans, like the ones in that _Final Fantasy _movie, there's something a little off about them, and they end up looking weird and creepy. But if they make them more cartoony, like in _The Incredibles_, they're not creepy at all."

"Huh. I think I see what you mean. So where do furries fall in this category?"

"Furries?" Chad raised an eyebrow. "And you say _I'm_ the geek."

"Oh, like you don't secretly have a thing for cat girls."

"No, ma'am, I do not," he answered solemnly.

Cree laughed and decided not to press the matter. "Speaking of furries, where's my turtle?"

Chad looked at her, baffled. "Turtles aren't furry at all."

"That's besides the point. You once told me you were going to give me a turtle, and I haven't seen it yet. So where is it?" She crossed her arms and put on a stern expression, which might have been more effective if she weren't snuggled up against him at the time.

"I never said that. You have a terrible memory."

"Yes you did, don't deny it, you said you were going to give me a turtle."

"No I didn't, I asked you what you would do _if_ I gave you a turtle. And besides, it was a metaphor; there was never any turtle."

"What?" Cree asked indignantly. "Metaphor for what?"

"Pfft. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not telling you."

She frowned and poked him cruelly between the ribs. "Metaphor for what?"

"Ow! Quit it!"

"Metaphor for what?" she demanded again, her expression turning sinister as she lightened her touch to a tickle.

Chad flinched and yelped, and Cree knew that she had won.

"Okay! I give! Just stop!"

Cree grinned triumphantly and settled back to nestle against him.

He frowned at her unscrupulous tactics. "I'm warning you, it's stupid, but you asked for it." He paused to think of a way to avoid his disclosure, but finding none, continued. "The turtle was a metaphor for me…telling you I loved you," he admitted embarrassedly.

She stared up into his face. "Really?"

"Yeah."

She pondered over this. "That is stupid."

Chad laughed. "I told you."

"But I want a turtle."

"I thought you didn't like turtles."

She smiled, turning to face him and encircle him in her arms. "I love turtles."

-fin-

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author's notes: the turtle question, finally explained! hey, i didn't say it would make any sense. but that's what he meant, way back in chapter 13. yes, it is cheesy, which is why i didn't really want to explain it in the first place. XD

some examples to explain the Uncanny Valley were swiped off of Wikipedia.

okay, it's done! it feels kind of weird, finally being finished with this fic. it took me super-long, too. thanks to everyone who reviewed and stuck with me through it all!

and yeah, i do realize that i left out some rather important things, like the fact that Cree never found out that Maurice was lying to her during their entire relationship. i actually did that on purpose, i never planned on her finding out in this fic, because i wanted her to choose Chad on her own, not because Maurice broke her heart. there's also the whole issue of whether or not the teens will continue to fight the Kids Next Door... well, i do have a sequel in mind, but i don't know if i'll ever get to it. if i do, i promise it'll be much shorter than this one! XP

i also have some ideas for some Cree/Chad one-shots which i hope i'll get to at some point.

thanks again for reading!


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